Description
Pedro Friedeberg (Mexican, 1936-2026). Sculptural carved mahogany wood chair with silver pigment designed in the form of a hand. Featuring a contoured palm seat and a high-backed finger backrest, supported by a conical pedestal base. Signed along the inner rim visible from the underside.
Lot Essay:
Pedro Friedeberg was an Italian-born Mexican artist and designer celebrated for his surrealist paintings, prints, and sculptural furniture filled with psychedelic and fantastical architectural forms. Born in Florence, Italy, to German-Jewish parents, he and his family moved to Mexico during World War II, where he grew up enthralled by both Florence's Gothic and Renaissance architecture and Mexico's Aztec ruins. He began studying to become an architect, but at the encouragement of his mentor, the sculptor Mathias Goeritz, he abandoned his studies to pursue art, channeling his architectural training into increasingly implausible designs that defied the conventional forms of the 1950s.
Friedeberg became a member of Los Hartos (The Fed-Up Ones), a group of surrealists and Neo-Dadaists active in Mexico City that advocated art for art's sake and included figures such as Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. His most iconic work is recognized as the "Hand Chair," a seat shaped like an open palm, with the fingers doubling as back and arm rests. The design began as an offhand joke to a carpenter and went on to become a beloved fixture of Mexican homes and a pop-culture around the world. It remains simultaneously a functional piece of furniture and an absurdist object, emblematic of the irony and irreverence that ran through his entire body of work. In 2009, the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City honored him with a major retrospective, and his art was shown in museums and galleries across Mexico, the United States, and Europe throughout his career.
Though frequently labeled the "last Surrealist," Friedeberg rejected the term, insisting he belonged to no movement. He continued working prolifically into his later years, producing paintings, murals, book illustrations, furniture, and set designs. Friedeberg died on March 5, 2026, at age 90, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, of colon cancer.
Height: 36 1/4 in x width: 20 in x depth: 20 in.
Lot Essay:
Pedro Friedeberg was an Italian-born Mexican artist and designer celebrated for his surrealist paintings, prints, and sculptural furniture filled with psychedelic and fantastical architectural forms. Born in Florence, Italy, to German-Jewish parents, he and his family moved to Mexico during World War II, where he grew up enthralled by both Florence's Gothic and Renaissance architecture and Mexico's Aztec ruins. He began studying to become an architect, but at the encouragement of his mentor, the sculptor Mathias Goeritz, he abandoned his studies to pursue art, channeling his architectural training into increasingly implausible designs that defied the conventional forms of the 1950s.
Friedeberg became a member of Los Hartos (The Fed-Up Ones), a group of surrealists and Neo-Dadaists active in Mexico City that advocated art for art's sake and included figures such as Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. His most iconic work is recognized as the "Hand Chair," a seat shaped like an open palm, with the fingers doubling as back and arm rests. The design began as an offhand joke to a carpenter and went on to become a beloved fixture of Mexican homes and a pop-culture around the world. It remains simultaneously a functional piece of furniture and an absurdist object, emblematic of the irony and irreverence that ran through his entire body of work. In 2009, the Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City honored him with a major retrospective, and his art was shown in museums and galleries across Mexico, the United States, and Europe throughout his career.
Though frequently labeled the "last Surrealist," Friedeberg rejected the term, insisting he belonged to no movement. He continued working prolifically into his later years, producing paintings, murals, book illustrations, furniture, and set designs. Friedeberg died on March 5, 2026, at age 90, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, of colon cancer.
Height: 36 1/4 in x width: 20 in x depth: 20 in.
Condition
There are no breaks. Light separation to the joints. There are scattered losses to the silver pigment, particularly along high points, the seat, and the underside of the chair. Scattered light scratches and accretions. Light wear to the base.
Buyer's Premium
30%
Pedro Friedeberg "Hand Chair" Carved Wood
Estimate $6,000-$12,000
Current Bid (1 bid)
$3,000
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This auction is curated by:
Sean BlanchetAsian Art Specialist
Robert SnellPaintings and Sculpture Specialist
Fine Jewelry & Luxury Goods
Nov 17, 2026, 11:00 AM ESTSt. Paul, MN, United States
St. Paul, MN
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