| Piero Fornasetti (1913-1988) was an Italian painter, | | | | architectural per spectives. He particularly liked the |
| sculptor, designer, craftsman, engraver, and compulsive | | | | juxtaposition of elaborate themes on ordinary objects |
| collector of printed ephemera. A precursor to pop-art | | | | and could find inspiration in and add artistic expression |
| and an exemplar of a post-modernism which would | | | | to an array of everyday items: hats, waistcoats, pipes, |
| not be named for decades hence. Prolific and unafraid | | | | ashtrays, chairs, plates, cabinets, pianos, shops, cars |
| of the utilitarian he created tens-of-thousands of | | | | and even ocean liners. Fornasetti also used variations |
| objects in his lifetime. Perhaps most recognized for his | | | | of the sun, playing cards, fish and flowers as recurring |
| Themes and Variations series (which reworked a | | | | themes in his pieces. |
| single image of opera singer Lina Cavalieri he found in | | | | Fornasetti played with vivid reds, blues and yellows in |
| a 19th century French magazine over 500 times) his | | | | his work, contrasting them with his black-and-white |
| works include porcelain and gold plates, chairs, jars, | | | | pieces. One popular theme involves several |
| tables, bureaus, teapots, umbrellas, lamps, screens, | | | | black-and-white adaptations of a woman is face set |
| clothes, etc. Evidently he once said of his work: "I | | | | against porcelain. In one sketch, clouds surround the |
| believe in neither periods nor dates. I refuse to define | | | | woman is face; in others, she is winking or her face is |
| the value of an object in terms of its era." | | | | shrouded with a veil, leaving only her large, piercing |
| During his career, Fornasetti established his own | | | | eyes. |
| contemporary style based on illusionism and | | | | |