Written by William Gibbons Thursday, 06 October 2011 22:12

An Iconic post-modernist design, "Proust's Armchair", to sell at Bonhams

LONDON.- One of the most iconic and important post-modernist designs, Proust’s Armchair, by Italian designer and architect Alessandro Mendini, is to be sold at Bonhams as part of its Contemporary Two sale on 19 October 2011. Designed in 1978, and executed in 1981, for a performance based exhibition entitled Robot Sentimentale, it has attracted a pre-sale estimate of £20,000 – 30,000. Mendini describes his design, which was privately commissioned by the present owner from him in 1981, in The Story of the Proust Chair, 2001: “I found an appropriate ready-made in the replica of an eighteenth century armchair, and chose a detail from a Signac painting for the pattern that covers the whole armchair...”

As one of the most important pieces of design from the late 20th century, this lot is particularly resonant at the moment with the opening of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Post-Modernism exhibition, the museum’s first in depth survey of art, design and architecture of the 1970s and 1980s.

Alessandro Mendini (born 1931 in Milan) is an Italian designer and architect. He played an important part in the development of Italian design. He also worked, aside from his artistic career, for Casabella, Modo and Domus magazines.

His design has been characterized by his strong interest in mixing different cultures and different forms of expression; he creates graphics, furniture, interiors, paintings and architectures and wrote several articles and books; he is also renowned as an enthusiastic member of jury in architectural competition for young designers, such as the DBEW competition in South Korea or the Braun prize. He also teaches at the University of Milan.

Currently he runs his own practice in Milan, the Atelier Mendini, together with his brother Francesco Mendini.

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