Yantra, Model Y37
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Sottsass designed approximately thirty pieces for the Yantra series, including vases, ashtrays, boxes, and bowls. The Sanskrit term yantra denotes a mystical diagram comprising nine interlocking triangles, a system that informed the repeating geometric forms of these vases. In addition to Indian cultural and religious objects, Sottsass noted that Aztec sculpture and Jazz Age radio receivers also influenced these designs. And as Art Deco enjoyed a resurgence during this time, it is not surprising that zigzag shapes appear in the series. Sottsass hoped to imbue these works with the same meditational effects of the yantras and mandalas he encountered in India.
Artwork Details
- Title: Yantra, Model Y37
- Artist: Ettore Sottsass (Italian (born Austria), Innsbruck 1917–2007 Milan)
- Date: 1969
- Medium: Ceramic
- Dimensions: 16 3/4 × 10 × 8 3/4 in. (42.5 × 25.4 × 22.2 cm)
- Classification: Ceramics
- Credit Line: Private Collection
- Rights and Reproduction: Studio Ettore Sottsass Srl
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art