9.19.2010

costantino nivola: lost in the hamptons

in his garden
The Springs, East Hampton
 Long Island, New York
1964

Nivola's first major commission
was the
Olivetti showroom mural
New York City
1954

His mural was huge.
(This showroom was SO sick.....)
The showroom was designed by the Milanese
architectural firm BBPR
(B. Belgiojoso, Peressutti and Rogers)

Nivola working at Olivetti.
Milano
1937

Le Corbusier sand-casting
with Pietro and Claire Nivola.
East Hampton
1951

Corbu is into it...

Le Corbusier admiring with his sand-cast
from above.
Nivola Garden
Springs
1951

Le Corbusier made a mural for the Nivola's
shown here:
Wait a minute.... That's not it....

Here we go....

Corbu working on the Nivola's mural.
Springs
1950

Costantino
Springs
circa 1950s

Concrete wall with graffito mural.
The gardens were designed by

Garden fountain

Detail of fountain

Dig that suit....

Garden "room" by
Rudofsky

Freestanding wall with
"tree window"

Nivola Family
in garden.
(Smiles everyone smiles, your garden is amazing!)
1953

Costantino and Pietro
Springs
1953
(Daddy what is that killer ceiling lamp?)

Concrete "fruit" sculpture
on the lawn.

Overgrown sand-cast sculpture.

Free standing relief by Nivola.
Claire and Pietro cooking bread
in traditional Sardinia oven.

Solarium in garden
1952
(Cool looking but can you IMAGINE how hot it would be in there?)

Detail of Solarium

Amazing garden fireplace
1950s

Rudolfsky structure with wall mural behind.

Nivola wall mural
Springs
1950

Party in the Garden
1960
Frequent visitors to the Nivola's were:
Jackson Pollack, Lee Krasner, William de Kooning, Mark Rothko,
Franz Kline, James Brooks, Hans Namuth, Dorothy Norman,
Saul Steinberg, Heda Sterne, Peter Blake,
Frederick Kiesler, Paul Lester Wiener and Paul Tishman
among others....

Costantino on the beach.
East Hampton
1970

"Totem"
plaster, sand
1950

"Study for Olivetti Panel"
plaster, sand
1953

"Masculine Figure"
concrete
1958

"Masculine Figure"
concrete
1958

"Untitled"
concrete
1958

"An Ancestor of Mine"
painted tin
1950s

"Untitled"
painted tin
1950s

8 comments:

  1. greg from daddytypes9/19/10, 8:49 PM

    dude, it once took me literally several agonizing hours to find out what that cinderblock solarium was. [also, it turns out it was for nude sunbathing in winter. The Nivolas were year-round types, I guess.]

    http://daddytypes.com/2009/03/23/baby_remember_my_name_mystery_mid-century_artist_pool.php

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  2. greg from daddytypes9/19/10, 8:50 PM

    oh yeah, also, can I give you the address to deliver that showroom floor? mamma mia.

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  3. the bbpr showroom maybe sick , but great.
    the series is heaven , too.
    and you changed the blogo logo into boldo.
    which i also consider fine.
    sun is shining over vienna.. evrything's in rhythm...

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  4. Great post love your spattering of comments - mabe one has to take things that seriously to design well? there is quite a good book on the Hamptons Scene "Weekend Utopia".
    Well off to my cinder-block wall with a paint brush

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  5. p. i was wrong. no. not about the post which is reminding me v.m. of the early 1930ties kritzendorf scene north of vienna on the river danube but o.c. not so far out like the hamptons of course.
    ...you hadn't changed you logo into more boldo , but our pc bloated it yesterday onscreen and crashed this morning ..the logo is still slimbo.
    but the pc .. may it be revived .. lets see. or it shall rest in peace and never come back again.

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  6. (from France) it's a pity I heard too late about the recent exhibition of his drawings in Sassari ; those dedicated to Mike Schirru were of some interest to me...

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  7. many thanx for this superb posting !

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  8. Ci-dessous pour information un site web sur l'œuvre et les archives de l'architecte franco chilien Guillermo Jullian de la Fuente collaborateur de Le Corbusier de 1959 à 1965 et notamment sur le projet Olivetti :

    https://guillermojullian.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete