R. Buckminster Fuller

Collection of the artist
By descent to the present owner

Overall very good condition. The present lot includes a number of additional original materials used as lecture aids by Buckminster Fuller. The Tensegrity Sphere is constructed in a manner in which it collapses, and thus making the design portable. Sold with this lot is the original carrying case, constructed by Fuller’s studio. It is a hard cardboard case with attached leather handles and cotton straps. The case retains not only Fuller’s business card, as a return address, but also stickers documenting the travels with which it accompanied Fuller. This lot is also sold with an informational DVD, showing the construction of the tensegrity sphere and the other materials in the case. A unique opportunity to acquire a work used and created by the legendary Buckminster Fuller.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In the last 25 years of this life, Buckminster Fuller traveled the globe building his patented geodesic dome and delivering his message at universities and college of a "Design Revolution". During the last few years of his life, Buckminster Fuller was accompanied by the present lot, a wooden folding geodesic dome.  The sphere, together with the flat custom corrugated fiberboard "suitcase" in which it traveled, was fabricated by a member of his Philadelphia-based staff.  The sphere was accompanied in the "kit" by another demonstration model of the natural geometrical principles, and versions of the Dymaxion world map projection.  This kit provided Fuller with important models he used in his lectures to illustrate fundamental principles of nature's design, the geometry of the universe, the big picture of "human trends and needs" and how lightweight high-performance building structures could be engineered.