On Monday 8 April 2013 the PIASA Design Department will stage its first sale at its exceptional new venue, the Espace Rive Gauche. This inaugural sale will focus on Italian Design, including a special homage to the sculptor and designer Annibale Oste.
PIASA is devoting its first sale of decorative arts in 2013 to Italian Post-War Design – the first such sale in France for many years.
The sale will run to around one hundred lots and include an array of works by the top names in Italian Design, whose pieces continue to embellish modern interiors: Gio Ponti, Ettore Sottsass, Achille Castiglioni, Andrea Branzi, Gae Aulenti, Ico Parisi, Marco Zanuso, Joe Colombo, etc.
In a spirit of discovery typical of PIASA, the sale will also turn the spotlight on the work of lesser-know but equally talented designers such as Carlo de Carli, Luciano Grassi, Ignazio Gardella, Fabrizio Cocchia and Gianfranco Fini – whose rare pieces, often produced in small quantities, offer original and intriguing alternatives to more iconic pieces.
The sale will introduce the work of a whole new generation of ‘self-producing’ designers, with a craftsman-like approach halfway between Art and Design.
Design burst on to the Italian scene just after World Wart II, with a tremendous creativity and scale of production that responded to post-war needs of refurnishing and reconstruction. Designers were not afraid of experimenting, readily exploring new approaches and new materials (like plastic, glass fibre or rubber). Some were inspired by classical Italian tradition (Piero Fornasetti), while others opted to produce small or not so small series of industrialized objects (Castiglioni, Magistretti, Mangiarotti, Sottsass).
The result: Italy became a stronghold of International Design. Nearly 70 years later, Italian Design still remains a watchword for flair and verve.
The works which have contributed to the history of Italian Design are of vital importance in understanding the evolution of 20th century decorative arts.
Part of the sale will be devoted to works by Annibale Oste, who hailed from Naples and trained as a sculptor, going on to display a rare gift for bringing his works to life in an organic way, combining purely physical considerations linked to his materials with a more poetic approach, expressed in his favourite subjects of Light and Nature. His monumental works experimented with new combinations of materials (glass fibre, nickelled bronze, resin, crystal, wood, with Oste’s personal touch discernible in every piece – as tellingly illustrated by his Geste series.
Oste oscillated constantly between functional sculpture and sculptural Design. Cognoscenti of Italian Design have described his work as artdesign, with the complexity and monumentality of his pieces ill-suited to the usual production system of Design objects.
The many group and one-man shows featuring the work of Annibale Oste throughout his career saw him build up a keen following among leading European and Asian collectors.
Now PIASA is paying tribute to Annibale Oste – and putting his unique output in perspective – by selecting for auction a number of pieces charting his entire career… from his beginnings as a sculptor – exemplified by his bronze and glass-fibre sculpture-picture Flash su Burri (est. €40,000-60,000) – to his evolution towards Design, encapsulated by his Fiat Lux neon floor-lamp in bronze, wood and resin (est. €30,000-50,000).
Other major pieces include his chest of drawers Opera Mobile K 83, in resin, white alabaster, wood and aluminium (est. €8,000-12,000); his Poltrona Mente glass-fibre armchair inset with feathers (est. €10,000-15,000); his wooden Ribalta la Nuvola produced by De Angelis for the Cose Mobili series; and a large wardrobe in wood and aluminium.
The scenography of the pre-sale viewing is to be designed by the celebrated architect Charles Zana, a connoisseur of Italian Design.
After studying architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and starting his career in the United States, Zana returned to France in 1990 to found his own agency, Charles Zana Architecte, which designs interiors for jet-set apartments, exceptional homes and public amenities like shops and restaurants.
His warm, contemporary interiors stand out for their attention to volume, lighting and materials, and for his savoir-faire in showcasing private collections of art and Design : Zana is often called on to design exhibition presentations in museums and art galleries (Galerie de Vos, Galerie Gastou).
For PIASA, Charles Zana will be calling on all his creative flair and scenographic experience to create a dialogue between the sale’s exceptional pieces of Italian Design and the works by Annibale Oste.