Piero Fornasetti, practical follies

Presented in the great nave of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, this exhibition is comprised of over a thousand items signed Piero Fornasetti (1913 – 1988), a decorator of genius, a past-master in the art of ornamentation, trompe l’œil and illusion

Drawing on a daily basis since childhood, Piero Fornasetti always described himself as self-taught. Against the advice of his family, he enrolled himself in the Fine Arts Academy in Brera in Italy, but was thrown out two years later for insubordination. He then experimented with engraving and printing in his father’s workshop. Very soon, his virtuosity enabled him to work on all kinds of materials : paper, ceramics, glass, copper and textiles. In 1933, the architect Gio Ponti spotted his talent at the Triennale in Milan. Their collaboration began in 1940 with a series of light fixtures. Together, they pursued various eccentric projects : magazine covers for “Domus” and “Stile”, furnishings such as the “Cabinet Architettura” in 1951, and many decors. Extremely prolific, Piero Fornasetti designed posters, advertising objects, logos, fashion accessories, furniture, and those famous plates with variations on the round face of opera singer Lina Cavalieri. There are no less than 350 versions, now legendary. The exhibition presents the main themes in the designer’s work and his theatrical decorative world : subjets imbued with lyricism and fantasy, trompe-l’œil, illusions, metaphysical landscapes, strange figures from the “Commedia Dell’arte”, enigmatic and lunar faces, in multiple variations on scarves, furnishings, tableware… Already staged in Milan in 2013, the exhibition is the first retrospective ever devoted to this artist in France.