Terms and conditions of use
Prototype no. 000-F for Moloch, floor lamp
(1971-1972) {designed and manufactured}
Medium
anodised aluminum, painted aluminum, aluminum, steel, painted steel, wood, electrical components
Measurements
291.5 × 233.5 × 86.2 cm (variable) (installed)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Marjorie Josephs-Wilks Bequest, 2025
Gallery location
Level 3, NGV International
About this work
Gaetano Pesce was celebrated for his provocative furniture and industrial design of the postwar period. During the 1960s he rose to prominence as a leading figure within the Italian Radical Design movement, whose followers rejected the functionalism, mass-production and consumerism that characterised mainstream design. In his giant version of an ordinary desk light, Pesce employs an icon of early twentieth-century industrial design, distorting its scale and thus commenting on the commercialisation and consumerism of the design industry. Pesce was a radical – he believed in a higher ideal for design and his Moloch floor lamp was a provocation.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Genoa, Italy
Inscription
struck in rear l.c.: MOLOCH / RIDISEGNO DI GAETANO PESCE / PRODUZIONE - BRACCIODIFERRO- / PRIMO CENTINAIO / ESEMPLARE N. 000 - F
Accession Number
2025.529
Department
International Decorative Arts