Alphonso Iannelli

Submitted by atomicscott on Sat, 01/26/2008 - 4:37pm.

Pelican in Her Piety Maquette

This is a plaster maquette by Alphonso Iannelli for a piece called Pelican in Her Piety. The resulting stone sculpture was installed in a church pulpit in Michigan City, Indiana. After moving from Italy, Iannelli was a life-long Park Ridge, Illinois resident (near north Chicago suburb). He worked with Frank Lloyd Wright to develop the sprites for Midway Garden. Later he worked as an illustrator, sculptor and industrial designer. As an industrial designer he is famous for designing the iconic half-circle Sunbeam toaster. His work tends to be overlooked today because he was a jack-of-all-trades and dabbled in all of the arts. This maquette is probably stepping out of the realm of what Modish is all about, but the sculptural quality exhibited in this plaster piece qualifies it as pottery in my eyes.

5
Average: 5 (2 votes)
mpratt's picture

I like this maquette

Submitted by mpratt on Sat, 01/26/2008 - 7:36pm.

I like this maquette quite a bit and what a great story! Surely this find wasn't from eBay?

atomicscott's picture

ebay

Submitted by atomicscott on Sat, 01/26/2008 - 9:19pm.

Yes, I bought this on ebay, and it was one of my best finds. When Iannelli died, much of his estate was purchased by a Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan collector in the Chicago area. In fact, this collector had an antique shop in Chicago exclusively devoted to their works. He closed the shop and moved to Michigan. He started selling many of his more important pieces on ebay. I just happened to do an "Alphonso Iannelli" search the week he listed the maquette. My eyes almost popped out when I found this for sale! I was the only person to place a bid and I won the auction. So, not to risk shipping damage, I drove to Michigan to pick it up. Several years later, an architectural historian, who has a River North gallery devoted to Chicago architecture and design, had an exhibit devoted to the works of Iannelli. When I went into his shop to show him a photo of the maquette, his jaw dropped open. He was very familiar with the piece and he could not believe that it had been sold on ebay.

tennebrac's picture

 Great find...great story!

Submitted by tennebrac on Sun, 01/27/2008 - 4:59pm.

 Great find...great story!  And to think that it came to you from eBay of all places!

f8isnow's picture

wow awesome

Submitted by f8isnow on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 6:16am.

this is sooo cool!! Now i live in the Chicago area why don't I find things like this.....f8