Les Fourchettes de Munari.
Milan: La Giostra, 1958.
First Edition.
Exceptionally rare first edition of Bruno Munari’s book of forks. With text in English, French, Italian and Japanese.
A delightful and imaginative artist’s book where ordinary forks become exuberantly playful through Munari’s inventive illustrations. Munari drew these forks “without any practical purpose, simply to play with the imagination on a seemingly arid theme,” treating the fork as an extension—“a prolongation”—of the hand. He transforms an everyday object into something alive, expressive and whimsical.
Born in Milan in 1907, Munari was one of the most influential, successful and versatile figures in 20th-century Italian children's books. His work spans futurism, modernist design, kinetic art, conceptual art, and early interactive books for children. He was associated early in life with the Italian Futurist movement but later distanced himself to pursue a more humanist, playful, and educational approach to art and design.
Munari rejected the idea of art as elite or inaccessible. He created educational materials, toys, and books designed to empower anyone to be creative. He was committed to making creativity part of everyday life—at home, in school, or at work. Objects like his “useless machines,” “flexible forks,” and absurd pictorial alphabets challenge the seriousness of design and invite people to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. He had a strong sense of visual irony and never stopped poking fun at rigid systems.
CONDITION: Near mint condition.
Tall octavo, saddle stitched with illustrated paper wrappers protected by acetate, measuring approximately 210 × 74 mm; 68 pages, 28 original drawings by Munari, each of a fork on the recto; with caption / commentary on the verso, small tear to protective acetate cover not affacting printed wrappers, in near mint orginal condition.
Price (AUD): $1,600.00 other currencies