Casablanca Sideboard
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
In the second half of the twentieth century, Italy became a center for modern design. Many foreigners went there to study and work at small, adventurous firms that produced high-quality objects.
Caption
Ettore Sottsass Jr. (Italian, born Austria, 1917–2007); Memphis Milano (1980 – 1987). Casablanca Sideboard, designed 1981. Wood, plastic laminate, 90 1/2 x 59 x 15 3/4 in. (229.9 x 149.9 x 40 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Furniture of the 20th Century, Inc., 83.104. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Title
Casablanca Sideboard
Date
designed 1981
Geography
Place manufactured: Italy
Medium
Wood, plastic laminate
Classification
Dimensions
90 1/2 x 59 x 15 3/4 in. (229.9 x 149.9 x 40 cm)
Signatures
no signature
Inscriptions
no inscriptions
Markings
on back of lower small black cabinet: "1981 / ETTORE / SOTTASS / MADE IN ITALY" printed in white.
Credit Line
Gift of Furniture of the 20th Century, Inc.
Accession Number
83.104
Frequent Art Questions
What's the significance of this piece to Brooklyn?
This was designed by a very influential Italian firm in the 1980s that went by the name 'Memphis' and was acquired just a few years after it was made. The decorative arts collection here is international, and it included objects that were groundbreaking works of design and that also were influential.The style of this sideboard became huge in the 80s the bold colors, the speckled finishes, the geometrical forms. The Memphis Group consciously designed furniture that pushed traditional boundaries between elite culture and low culture and between high and low art.This piece reminds me of Yayoi Kusama!
I can definitely see that! Although that piece is Italian, the dots are definitely a connection. We in fact have a few Yayoi Kusamas paintings, but none of them are currently on view.That's sad!Is this modern art?
This is a perfect example of postmodern design. This was a style that was intentionally funny-looking, tacky and designed to go out of style!That's weird!Yes! For the first half of the 20th century, modern design was all about being very simple, undecorated and in "good taste". Eventually people got bored of that and started to design objects that broke all of the rules! Do you see that patterned material on the surface of the sideboard? That was linoleum - a cheap material that would have been used in bathrooms and kitchens - but never on furniture! The pattern was designed by Ettore Sottsass Jr. and is called the “Bacterio” pattern. Again this is a reversal of the modernist tenet that design should be clean and hygienic. The designer was being very playful and ironic!What a strange object!
This "Casablanca Sideboard" is a product of The Memphis group, a design collective based out of Italy in the 1980s. They were known for creating Postmodern furniture with eccentric, unconventional forms.Some of the elements that make this piece Postmodern include emphasis on surface decoration, dishonest use of materials (wood disguised with laminate), lack of functionality (inverted shelves), and trendiness (it was designed to go out of fashion).Tell me more.
The sideboard was designed by a very influential Italian firm in the 1980s called Memphis. The Memphis Group consciously designed furniture that pushed traditional boundaries between high and low culture and art. This style–the bold colors, speckled finishes, and geometrical forms–became very popular in the 80s. It is a great example of postmodern design: intentionally funny-looking, tacky, and designed to go out of style. Some of the shelves are actually inverted and wouldn't have even been functional.There are a couple pieces here by some Italian designers post World War II, and I remember there being a name for this group?
Like something vaguely American, Chicago is coming to mind but I don't think that's right.Are you perhaps thinking of the Memphis Group?Oh!!! Totally!!! Thank you!!!They were an Italy based design collective that created Postmodern furniture around the 1980s.
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