BUGATTI, Carlo
(b. 1856, Milano, d. 1940, Molsheim, Alsace)

Settee

c. 1900
Walnut, brass, pewter, vellum, and silk, 147 x 266 x 62 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

A completely circular doorway led into one pavilion at the Turin Exposition that was without parallel. Inside, an astonishing assembly of beaten metal, repoussée leather, tattoed vellum, and fine silver inlays exuded strange, sensuous magic, further reinforced by the brown, gold, and silver tones of paint. The ornamental fantasies of Bugatti are in no way copies or adaptations but creations in the Art Nouveau sense of turning everything into a work of art.




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