Vetrinetta di Famiglia
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This cabinet may be viewed as having evolved from Sottsass’s 1960s designs for "robot furniture" and the Superboxes. The earlier robot cabinets are disturbingly anthropomorphic, featuring knobs for eyes, for example. By contrast, the Superboxes are monoliths and completely wrapped in laminate patterning. In Vetrinetta, Sottsass combined the two in a radically contemporary robot-like hybrid of a lamp and a curio cabinet to hold tchotchkes. The glass window allows us to view the treasures inside, which are encased in a box covered with his Bacterio pattern laminate in black and white. As always, color plays an important role, with the interior covered in acid hues and fluorescent lights in red and yellow.
Artwork Details
- Title: Vetrinetta di Famiglia
- Artist: Ettore Sottsass (Italian (born Austria), Innsbruck 1917–2007 Milan)
- Manufacturer: Studio Alchymia (Italian)
- Date: 1979
- Medium: metal, glass, laminate
- Classification: Furniture
- Credit Line: Courtesy of Friedman Benda, New York
- Rights and Reproduction: Studio Ettore Sottsass Srl
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art