Created for the music room of Solomon R. Guggenheim’s residence in Port Washington, Long Island, this screen and Fortissimo are an artistic collaboration between the designer Jean Dunand and the sculptor Séraphin Soudbinine. While Soudbinine conceived the composition and carved the bas-relief figures of otherworldly angels and rocklike forms, Dunand lacquered the screen. The titles are drawn from the Italian terms for very softly and very loudly played music. Guggenheim’s widow, Irene Rothschild, donated the screens to The Met following the death of her husband, a passionate collector of modern art and the namesake of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
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Dimensions:98 in. × 35 in. × 1 1/2 in. (248.9 × 88.9 × 3.8 cm)
Classification:Furniture
Credit Line:Gift of Mrs. Solomon R. Guggenheim, 1950
Accession Number:50.102.3
Mr. and Mrs. Solomon R. Guggenheim, Port Washington, N. Y. (1926–50; their gift to MMA)
New York. Finch College Museum of Art. "Art Deco," October 14–November 30, 1970, no. 255.
Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Cranbrook Academy of Art. "Art Deco," January 19–February 28, 1971, no. 255.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Modern Furniture in the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 3–October 9, 1994, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Jean Dunand: Master of Art Deco," May 23–October 27, 1998, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Deco Paris," June 8, 2004–February 6, 2005, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Modern Design: Selections from the Collection," May 30–October 5, 2008, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of French Art Deco," August 4, 2009–January 23, 2011, no catalogue.
Judith Applegate. Art Deco. Exh. cat., Finch College Museum of Art. New York, 1970, no. 256.
Penelope Hunter-Stiebel. "The Decorative Arts of the Twentieth Century." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 37 (Winter 1979–1980), pp. 26–27.
Michael Komanecky, and Virginia Fabbri Butera, Yale University Art Gallery. The Folding Image: Screens by Western Artists of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Exh. cat.New Haven, 1984, pp. 240–42.
Joyce Tognini. "Contemporary Craft at the Met." American Craft 47 (April/May 1987), ill. p. 52 (color, partial view).
Félix Marcilhac. Jean Dunand: His Life and Works. New York, 1991, no. 1155.
Mechthild Baumeister. "Jean Dunand—A Master of Art Déco Lacquer." Ostasiatische und europäische Lacktechniken. East Asian and European Lacquer Techniques. Ed. Michael Kühlenthal. Munich, 2000, pp. 207–18.
Jared Goss. French Art Deco. New York, 2014, pp. 81, 84, 210, 255–56, no. 20, ill. p. 83 (color).
David Ebony. "Hail the Met at 150: Modern Art." Magazine Antiques 187 (March/April 2020), p. 104, ill. (color; installation photo).
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