Four-paneled folding screen

Designer: Piero Fornasetti

c.1958

Laminated wood, pigments

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A four-paneled folding screen displays a grid of various objects, including musical instruments, firearms, lamps, hats, and boots, arranged in rows and columns. Piero Fornasetti had many artistic interests: graphic design, decorative arts, historical prints, Italian art and architecture, Surrealism. And they all inspired his unique approach to decoration. The folding screen was one of his favorite formats, and here he has covered the screen’s surface with four layers of historical objects, including musical instruments, guns, whips, hats, keys, canes, and boots. Fornasetti drew from memory, and it’s clear that he absorbed historical details. Every major technological development in guns, for example, is reflected here, from wheel lock to flint lock to percussion in the second register, and