Carlo Mollino

designed for Dansk Kunsthaandvaerk’s Spring Arts & Crafts Exhibition (Kunsthåndværkets forårsudstilling), Copenhagen, 1952

Private Collection, Milan, acquired directly from the artist, 1954

Kunsthåndværkets forårsudstilling, Dansk Kunsthaandvaerk, Copenhagen, 1952
Carlo Mollino: Maniera Moderna, Haus der Kunst, Munich, September 16, 2011-January 8, 2012

Domus, no. 270, May 1952, p. 50 (for the present lot illustrated)
Domus, no. 294, May 1954, p. 34 (for the present lot illustrated)
Dansk Kunsthaandvaerk, April 1952, p. 56 (for the present lot illustrated)
Fulvio Ferrari and Napoleone Ferrari, The Furniture of Carlo Mollino, London, 2006, pp. 129, 131 (for related models), 174 (for the present lot illustrated with artist sketches), 228 (for the present lot illustrated)
Carlo Mollino: Maniera Moderna, exh. cat., Haus der Kunst, Munich, 2011, p. 305 (for the present lot illustrated)
Fulvio Ferrari and Napoleone Ferrari, Carlo Mollino: Plywood, 1951, New York, 2014, n. p. (for a discussion, illustrations and period photographs of the present lot)

Overall in very good stable condition. The surfaces throughout appear to retain their original finish and show expected light surface wear and abrasions, rubbing, and minor discolorations consistent with age and use. With a few occasional areas of exceedingly small and minor losses to the lamination along the edge contours. The chair is constructed from several continuous segments of laminated bent plywood, which is composed of up to 11 layers. As expected the outermost layer of wood laminate shows tight linear stress lines throughout, all seemingly stable and inherent in the bentwood production technique; a few with minute associated surface losses. Both the chair seat and back are subtly contoured in carved relief, revealing the various strata of wood which serves as a dynamic focal point of the chair’s design. The lower region of the legs below the seat have been professionally conserved in a few small isolated areas that previously showed small areas of delamination to their outermost layers of wood. These sensitively restored areas are only visible under close inspection or under UV light. The brass fittings on the chair are all original and undisturbed and show expected light surface scratches, surface wear, oxidation, and minor discolorations commensurate with age and use. The underside of the seat retains its two original white rubber washers in between the seat and upper leg region. The underside of the seat also retains its original metal tag printed with the producer’s name and address. All of the screws and washers supporting the brass brackets and legs appear original and undisturbed. A unique, superlative example by Mollino exemplifying the height of his sculptural designs in bent plywood.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present lot is registered in the library of the Museo Casa Mollino, Turin, as number CM 330-1.

In December 1951, Carlo Mollino was invited to take part in Kunsthåndværkets forårsudstilling, the Spring Arts and Crafts Exhibition organized by the Danish Arts and Crafts Society, to be held in Copenhagen in 1952. Mollino enthusiastically accepted and proposed exhibiting a new type of chair in “continuous plywood” that he would create specifically for the occasion.

A year earlier in 1950, Mollino had just moved on from his elaborate solid wood sculpted furniture to experimenting with plywood. His first pieces in the medium, including examples related to the “Lattes” Chair (lot 314), were designed for the American travelling exhibition Italy at Work. Like Mollino’s earlier sculpted pieces, the new plywood furniture was characterized by extraordinary organic shapes that made them look like living creatures—elegant, seductive, and refined feminine creatures.

Mollino was intrigued by the idea of designing a piece made from a continuous plywood structure that would be a single, unified form, much like the human body and Japanese origami, supported only by some brass connections that could ideally be industrially produced. The design for this new chair had been conceived in August 1951 when Mollino was working on the commission for the Casa Editrice Lattes publishing house offices. It was one of the sixteen different furniture models Mollino submitted to Mr. Lattes, of which only a select few were actually produced. In January 1952, he had a single edition of the chair manufactured by the Apelli & Varesio workshop in Turin for 36,000 Italian Lire to be ready for the opening in Copenhagen on February 22, 1952.

The result would become known as the “Copenhagen” Chair, and is the only chair of its kind that was ever made. It stands out as a sculpture, and its innovative design and masterful execution in the plywood medium thrust forward the entire history of bent plywood furniture from a flat bi-dimensional look to a more complex structure. The plywood itself is skilfully carved, realizing the material’s full potential and making it look like a bone or a rock smoothed by the elements or over the course of centuries. This unique mix of technique and fantasy demonstrate Mollino’s talent as a surrealist engineer.

—Napoleone Ferrari, Founder and Curator, Museo Casa Mollino