Archivio Casorati
FELICE CASORATI DESIGNER

Description

The volume illustrates an unpublished aspect of the great Master of the twentieth century, “Felice Casorati Designer. Pioneer in the birth of Italian design”, in which furniture and prototypes designed by the artist are reproduced, some of which are visible to the public for the first time. The volume highlights Casorati’s influence in the field of applied arts and furniture, recognizing his role as a pioneer in the birth of Italian design.
The works presented in the volume, edited by the Casorati Archive and with a historical essay by Davide Alaimo, tell the story of the 1920s, a period during which Casorati developed a fruitful partnership with the patron Riccardo Gualino, whose commissions allowed him to experiment and put himself to the test as an “interior decorator”, architect, today we would say “designer”. Riccardo Gualino wrote in his autobiography, published in 1931: “It was an act of courage to grant carte blanche to a painter to create architecture.” In 1925, Riccardo and Cesarina Gualino entrusted Casorati with the design of the small theater in via Galliari in Turin, the furnishings of the dance school and part of his private home. It was in this period that the painter began to design chairs, stools, tables, bookcases, combining his artistic poetics with that of design, and calling the young architect Alberto Sartoris to collaborate with him in the design of the private theater. Also presented in the collection, in a completely new form, are the first projects for furniture with the dry oil on paper technique, a particular technique of Casorati, which allows an innovative reading of three-dimensional forms.