Carlo Mollino (1905-1973) was an architect, designer, photographer and writer, not to mention a race-car driver and a pilot. His buildings include the Royal Theatre in Turin, and his furniture, like his photography, is ever more valuable. In 2005, a Mollino table sold for $3.8 million, setting a world record for twentieth-century decorative art.
Upon his death, it was discovered that he had a vast, stunning body of work in Polaroids spanning 1962-1973.
DesignBoom tells us that these were, “the private photographic work he kept which included over 1,000 polaroids portraying beauties of Turin’s nightlife in the nude in mise-en-scène settings. These photographs were part of the preparation of his “house for the warrior’s rest,” known as Casa Mollino, a villa in Turin, situated along the River Po.”
Mollino, said to be one of Italy’s most influential mid-20th century designers, wanted to model his death on those of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, whose souls were taken by boat to a sumptuous city, where they enjoyed opulent afterlives. Casa Mollino was a house he created for his afterlife, “inspired by the project of the construction of the Egyptian pyramid which is the house for the perpetuity of the pharaohs.”
Flashbak has this nice collection. See also, more here and here.
