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Offerta a Shiva (FF. 560)
Ettore Sottsass Italian, born Austria
Not on view
The Offerings to Shiva manifest Sottsass’s gratitude for his recovery from nephritis in the early 1960s. If the Tenebre series represents his descent into illness and darkness as represented by the moon, the Offerings represent his return to life, the light, and the sun. The series of one hundred plates is dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva, who is revered as the destroyer of the universe, allowing for new creation by Brahma and preservation by Vishnu. Shiva may be viewed as having set the stage for Sottsass’s return to health. The plates resemble Puja trays used in the worship of Shiva, such as those seen in the photograph of the Hindu pilgrimage festival Kumbh Mela. Sottsass’s plates were designed to be the offerings themselves, embellished with simple circles and lines that relate to the rhythms of the cosmos.
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