Project for a Piece of Furniture
Alessandro Mendini
Italian, born 1931
1974
A colored-pencil on board proposal for an imagined piece of furniture in which Alessandro Mendini explores playful form and spatial ambiguity rather than a straightforward, functional table.
Two skewed, isometric-like table forms float on a white field, rendered in flat pink and violet planes whose exaggerated legs and hollow openings flip between solid and void and create an optical, cartoonish ambiguity.
Made in 1974, the drawing marks Mendini’s move away from austere modernist utility toward a decorative, narrative-driven approach that helped define postmodern design and open design to irony, color, and playful invention.
Medium
Color pencil on board
Dimensions
20 x 14 1/4" (50.8 x 36.2 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Zaidee Dufallo Fund and Greta Daniel Fund
Accession
241.1975.1-3
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
