GINO LEVI MONTALCINI (1902-1974) & GIUSEPPE PAGANO (1896-194 - Lot 40

GINO LEVI MONTALCINI (1902-1974) & GIUSEPPE PAGANO (1896-1945) Rationalist desk, circa 1928, with a geometric wooden structure entirely covered in Buxus, square-section sheath base, black lacquered shoes, opening with two drawers in the waistband. Rationalist desk, circa 1928, with a geometric wooden structure entirely covered in Buxus, square section legs, black lacquered feet, opening with two drawers in the waist. H 80 x L 140 x P 70 cm - H 31 1/2 x W 55 1/8 x D 27 1/2 in. HISTORICAL Gino Levi Montalcini and Giuseppe Pagano are two Italian rationalist architects who graduated from the Polytechnic University of Turin. In 1928, financier Riccardo Gualino commissioned them to design and fit out a remarkable office building in Turin, known as the Palazzo degli Uffici Gualino. The project was hailed by critics and the press as one of the first fully realized examples of Italian rationalist architecture. Pagano was primarily responsible for the architecture of the building, while Montalcini was more concerned with the furnishings, and 67 different pieces of furniture were designed. To assert their rationalist identity and achieve perfectly right-angled seating, they had the seats, made of wood, sheathed in Buxus, a new cellulose-based product designed by the furniture maker himself, entrepreneur Giacomo Bosso.