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Carlo Bugatti 1856 - 1940
A decorator and an architect, creator and manufacturer of furniture, jewelry, musical instruments and even of a racing bicycle, Carlo Bugatti was particularly inventive and original.
He made his debut in Milan, Italy around 1880, became successful outside Italy for the first time in 1888, and triumphed at the Turin, Italy decorative art exhibition in 1902.
He settled in Paris in 1904, before retiring to Pierrefonds, France in 1910.
Carlo Bugatti's furniture combines the picturesque asymmetry of Art Nouveau with the exoticism of Moorish and Japanese influences.
There is nothing accurately derivative in Bugatti's work, however; rather, it is pure fantasy, drawing inspiration from the Orientalist art movement of the late nineteenth century, a fact underscored by the name of his business in Milan: C. Bugatti & C., Fabbrica Mobili Artistici Fantasia.
With prices of sculptures of Carlo's son Rembrandt Bugatti soaring (one of Rembrandt's sculptures, "Lionne d'Afrique" recently sold for US$ 1,832,000 US$ at the Sotheby's Twentieth Century Decorative Art & Design Sale on June 5, 2007), the cars of his other son, Ettore Bugatti having fetched millions for the past decades, interest in their father's work is bound to increase dramatically whilst art collectors and investors are searching for news fields and "Grand Names" to collect and to invest into.
The first result of that search can be seen by a relatively simple painting from the hand of Carlo Bugatti (depicting his wife Therese) fetching not less than a staggering $ 71.200 (MastroNet Auctions, December 9, 2005) while a Carlo Bugatti made small table easily sets you back some $ 30.000.