in 1968, for Dal Mondo delle Idee, Pescara, raw, untreated Russian pine, twice stamped: MARIO CEROLI and DAL MONDO DELLE IDEE,/RRODUZIONE/COEN + PIERONI. PESCARA. ITALY, height 86 cm, length 238 cm, depth 68.5 cm. (DRAX)

With certificate of authenticity issued by Mario Ceroli on 2 February 2021

Lit.:
M. Mattioli, Gallerie, suoni e tavoli. Le mille vite de Mario Pieroni, in: Artribune, 20 Aug. 2015; P. C. Santini, Facendo mobili con Poltronova, Florence 1977, p. 41, p. 89 (on the later Poltronova production)

Provenance:
private ownership, Italy, purchased from Dal Mondo delle Idee

Mario Ceroli designed this settee for Dal Mondo delle Idee, an initiative of artists launched by Giulio Alviani together with the future gallery owner Mario Pieroni. Founded in Pescara, Pieroni’s native town, where his family ran a furniture factory, this cooperative, which also included Pieroni’s cousin Federica Coen, encouraged artist friends to deal with the theme of everyday furniture. In addition to Mario Ceroli, Ettore Spalletti, Laura Grisi, Enrico Job, Concetto Pozzati, Michelangelo Pistoletto, and Paolo Scheggi belonged to this group. All of them shared the ambition to create a fusion of art and design. Ceroli contributed a suite of furniture comprising a short settee, a long settee, and a chair, all of them executed in the same untreated softwood he also preferred for his sculptures. Later on, Poltronova realised his design as limited serial production.