CARLO BUGATTI
H 162 - W 105.5 - D 63 cm.
H 63 3/4 - W 41 1/2 - D 24 3/4 in.
Plus d'images
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 1
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 2
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 3
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 4
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 5
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 6
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 7
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 8
)
-
(View a larger image of thumbnail 9
)
Created around 1900, this pair of cabinets belongs to the period in which Carlo Bugatti developed his most distinctive artistic vocabulary. Moving beyond the conventions of traditional cabinetmaking, he conceived furniture as architecture, combining materials rarely brought together: dark woods, parchment, pewter, brass and repoussé metalwork.
References to Oriental, Islamic and Japanese art are absorbed rather than literally reproduced. Here, the monumentality of the construction contrasts with the precious quality of its surfaces: broad parchment panels are punctuated by metal inlays, cabochons and geometric motifs that structure the façades. This interplay between architecture, ornament and the natural colours of contrasting materials is characteristic of Bugatti's work around 1900. Contemporary cabinets preserved or documented elsewhere employ the same vocabulary of parchment, dark wood, pewter and brass inlay, and repoussé metalwork.
Preserved together, the two cabinets acquire a particularly architectural presence: conceived as pendants, they transform repetition and symmetry into integral elements of the composition.
Provenance
Private collection, Monaco.Bibliographie
Philippe Dejean, Carlo, Rembrandt, Ettore, Jean Bugatti, Éditions du Regard, Paris, 1981, p. 47, related cabinet illustrated.
Gabriele Mazzotta, I Bugatti, exhibition catalogue, Castello di Massagno, 1997, p. 27, model illustrated.
Marie-Madeleine Massé, Carlo Bugatti au musée d'Orsay : Catalogue sommaire illustré du fonds d'archives et des collections, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 2001.