Mid-Century Italian Wood and Brass Magazine Rack with Handle by Gio Ponti, 1950s

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Wonderful Gio Ponti mid-century wood and brass magazine rack with two prints. This incredible piece was designed in Italy during … Read more Wonderful Gio Ponti mid-century wood and brass magazine rack with two prints. This incredible piece was designed in Italy during the 1950s and it is attributed to Gio Ponti. This item is amazing because of the asymmetrical design of the two side wood elements and the two prints, representing the globe, Sir Francis Drake and the mystical Golden Hind galleon. The golden hing was an English galleon best known for her privateering circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake. She was originally known as Pelican, but was renamed by Drake mid-voyage in 1578, in honor of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was a golden 'hind' (a female red deer). Hatton was one of the principal sponsors of Drake's world voyage. A full-sized, sea-worthy reconstruction exists in London, on the south bank of the Thames. This item as astonishing brass finishes and feet and a "made in Italy" print on the bottom. Giovanni "Gio" Ponti (18 November 1891-16 September 1979) was an Italian architect, Industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, teacher, writer and publisher. During his career, which spanned six decades, Ponti built more than a hundred buildings in Italy and in the rest of the world. He designed a considerable number of decorative art and design objects as well as furniture. Thanks to the magazine Domus, which he founded in 1928 and directed almost all his life, and thanks to his active participation in exhibitions such as the Milan Triennial, he was also an enthusiastic advocate of an Italian-style art of living and a major player in the renewal of Italian design after the Second World War. From 1936-1961, he taught at the Milan Polytechnic School and trained several generations of designers. Ponti also contributed to the creation in 1954 of one of the most important design awards: The Compasso d'Oro prize. Ponti died on 16 September 1979. His most famous works are the Pirelli Tower, built from 1956-1960 in Milan in collaboration with the engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, the Villa Planchart in Caracas and the Superleggera chair, produced by Cassina in 1957. See less