TROMPE L'OEIL 1980 Memphis Three Dimensional Bookends In Steel & Lacquer

A pair of Memphis period bookends.

This is a pair of unusual bookends created in America during the Memphis artistic period, back in 1980. They were crafted in solid cut steel and decorated with yellow, yellow-green and black lacquer paints. The bookends were designed with the stylized figures of an apple and a banana with the trompe l'oeil technique giving the appearance to be in three dimensions.

The Memphis Style

Was emerged in 1981, when the Italian designer and architect Ettore Sottsass founded a group of artists and designers called Memphis. Bob Dylan’s song 'Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again' was playing on repeat during the group’s first meeting, which led to the group being named 'Memphis'. After the inaugural meeting, the group decided that they would meet again in February 1981. The members brought over 100 drawings with them, picturing a variety of bold, colorful designs with multiple stylistic influences. The Memphis Group went on to create furniture, fabrics, patterns, ceramics and other products in a distinctly Postmodern style that blended stylistic traits of 1950s kitsch, Art Deco, and Pop Art. If you love unashamedly brash and bold colors and patterns, you’ll be very happy to hear that the Memphis Style, the design style pioneered by the 1980s Memphis Group, is very much back in vogue.

Trompe L'œil

This in French means, for 'deceive the eye'. It is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. Trompe l'oeil, which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving painted objects or spaces as real. Forced perspective is a related illusion in architecture.

Country: United States.

Period: Memphis, 1980.

Materials: Cut steel and paint lacquers.

Weight: About 2 pounds, (0.91 Km.). 

Measurements: 234 mm by 160 mm by 152 mm (9.2 x 6.3 x 6 Inches).

Condition: The overall condition of these Memphis bookends are excellent. Beside the little normal wear, there is no damage and all parts are secured in their settings. This pair has been carefully inspected to guarantee the condition and authenticity.

INVENTORY REF: D070525TEJK/.9045