Gio Ponti - Lo Stile - 1942

Gio Ponti. Style in the house and interior design, no.13/1942. Milan, Garzanti, 1942. Cover signed with the acronym ‘Gienlica’ (Gio Ponti, Enrico Bo, Lina Bo, Carlo Pagani). Size 32.5x24.5 cm. Editorial softcover, 59 pages numbered. Black and white illustrations and drawings. In this issue: Giorgio De Chirico, Considerations on modern painting; Gio Ponti, Lasting works for unawarded artists and exhibitions; An interior designed by architect Franco Buzzi; Gio Ponti, Furniture drawings; De Pisis at home; etc. etc. In good condition – some abrasions on the spine and normal signs of aging.

'Style,' an indication of works of architecture and furnishings, as well as drawings, paintings, and sculptures. Under the auspices of a highly significant word, 'Style,' an indication of works of architecture and furnishings, as well as drawings, paintings, and sculptures begins. This is how Gio Ponti wrote in January 1941, in the first issue of 'Style,' the magazine 'of ideas, life, the future, and above all art' which he created and directed for Garzanti editions after leaving Editoriale Domus. 'Style in the home and furnishings,' as the magazine's full title initially states, was published monthly throughout the war and continued until 1947, when, after more than seventy issues, Ponti resumed negotiations with Gianni Mazzocchi to return to the editorship of 'Domus.' During these six years, 'Style' was Ponti's magazine, his 'creature': he was the creator and director, but also the editor and layout designer; he designed numerous covers, 'to artfully express his thought,' and signed over four hundred articles, including editorials, notes, and columns, under his name or one of his pseudonyms (Archias, Artifex, Mitus, Serangelo, Tipus, etc.).
Giovanni Ponti, known as Gio, (Milan, November 18, 1891 – Milan, September 16, 1979), was an Italian architect and designer among the most important of the post-war period.

Biography
Italians are born to build. Building is a characteristic of their race, a shape of their mind, a vocation and commitment of their destiny, an expression of their existence, the supreme and immortal sign of their history.
Gio Ponti, Architectural Vocation of Italians, 1940

Son of Enrico Ponti and Giovanna Rigone, Gio Ponti graduated in architecture from the then Royal Higher Technical Institute (the future Politecnico di Milano) in 1921, after suspending his studies during his participation in the First World War. In the same year, he married the noble Giulia Vimercati, from an ancient Brianzola family, with whom he had four children (Lisa, Giovanna, Letizia, and Giulio).

Twenty and thirty years old

Casa Marmont in Milan, 1934

The Montecatini Palace in Milan, 1938
Initially, in 1921, he opened a studio with architects Mino Fiocchi and Emilio Lancia (1926-1933), before collaborating with engineers Antonio Fornaroli and Eugenio Soncini (1933-1945). In 1923, he participated in the First Biennale of Decorative Arts held at the ISIA in Monza and was subsequently involved in organizing various Triennials, both in Monza and Milan.

In the twenties, he started his career as a designer in the ceramic industry with Richard-Ginori, reworking the company's overall industrial design strategy; with his ceramics, he won the 'Grand Prix' at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris. During those years, his production was more influenced by classical themes reinterpreted in a Deco style, aligning more closely with the Novecento movement, an exponent of rationalism. Also in those same years, he began his editorial activity: in 1928, he founded the magazine Domus, which he directed until his death, except for the period from 1941 to 1948 when he was the director of Stile. Along with Casabella, Domus would represent the center of the cultural debate on Italian architecture and design in the second half of the twentieth century.


Coffee service 'Barbara' designed by Ponti for Richard Ginori in 1930.
Ponti's activities in the 1930s extended to organizing the V Milan Triennale (1933) and creating sets and costumes for La Scala Theatre. He participated in the Industrial Design Association (ADI) and was among the supporters of the Golden Compass award, promoted by La Rinascente department stores. Among other honors, he received numerous national and international awards, eventually becoming a tenured professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1936, a position he held until 1961. In 1934, the Italian Academy awarded him the Mussolini Prize for the arts.

In 1937, he commissioned Giuseppe Cesetti to create a large ceramic floor, exhibited at the Universal Exhibition in Paris, in a hall that also featured works by Gino Severini and Massimo Campigli.

The 1940s and 1950s
In 1941, during World War II, Ponti founded the regime's architecture and design magazine STILE. In the magazine, which clearly supported the Rome-Berlin axis, Ponti did not hesitate to include comments in his editorials such as 'In the post-war period, Italy will have enormous tasks... in the relations with its exemplary ally, Germany,' and 'our great allies [Nazi Germany] give us an example of tenacious, serious, organized, and orderly application' (from Stile, August 1941, p. 3). Stile lasted only a few years and closed after the Anglo-American invasion of Italy and the defeat of the Italo-German Axis. In 1948, Ponti reopened the magazine Domus, where he remained as editor until his death.

In 1951, he joined the studio along with Fornaroli, architect Alberto Rosselli. In 1952, he established the Ponti-Fornaroli-Rosselli studio with architect Alberto Rosselli. This marked the beginning of the most intense and fruitful period of activity in both architecture and design, abandoning frequent links to the neoclassical past and focusing on more innovative ideas.

the sixties and seventies
Between 1966 and 1968, he collaborated with the ceramic manufacturing company Ceramica Franco Pozzi of Gallarate [without a source].

The Communication Studies and Archive Center of Parma houses a collection dedicated to Gio Ponti, consisting of 16,512 sketches and drawings, 73 models and maquettes. The Ponti archive was donated by the architect's heirs (donors Anna Giovanna Ponti, Letizia Ponti, Salvatore Licitra, Matteo Licitra, Giulio Ponti) in 1982. This collection, whose design material documents the works created by the Milanese designer from the twenties to the seventies, is public and accessible.

Gio Ponti died in Milan in 1979: he is buried at the Milan Monumental Cemetery. His name has earned him a place in the cemetery's memorial register.

Stile
Gio Ponti designed many objects across a wide range of fields, from theatrical sets, lamps, chairs, and kitchen objects to interiors of transatlantic ships. Initially, in the art of ceramics, his designs reflected the Viennese Secession and argued that traditional decoration and modern art were not incompatible. His approach of reconnecting with and utilizing the values of the past found supporters in the fascist regime, which was inclined to safeguard the 'Italian identity' and recover the ideals of 'Romanity,' which was later fully expressed in architecture through the simplified neoclassicism of Piacentini.


La Pavoni coffee machine, designed by Ponti in 1948.
In 1950, Ponti began working on the design of 'fitted walls', or entire prefabricated walls that allowed for the fulfillment of various needs by integrating appliances and equipment that had previously been autonomous into a single system. We also remember Ponti for the design of the 'Superleggera' seat in 1955 (produced by Cassina), created by modifying an existing object typically handcrafted: the Chiavari chair, improved in materials and performance.

Despite this, Ponti built the School of Mathematics in the University City of Rome in 1934 (one of the first works of Italian Rationalism), and in 1936, the first of the office buildings for Montecatini in Milan. The latter, with strongly personal characteristics, reflects in its architectural details, of refined elegance, the designer's penchant for style.

In the 1950s, Ponti's style became more innovative, and while remaining classical in the second office building for Montecatini (1951), it was fully expressed in his most significant work: the Pirelli Skyscraper in Piazza Duca d'Aosta in Milan (1955-1958). The structure was built around a central framework designed by Nervi (127.1 meters). The building appears as a slender and harmonious glass slab that cuts through the architectural space of the sky, designed with a balanced curtain wall, with its long sides narrowing into almost two vertical lines. Even with its character of 'excellence,' this work rightly belongs to the Modern Movement in Italy.

Opere
Industrial design
1923-1929 Porcelain pieces for Richard-Ginori
1927 Pewter and silver objects for Christofle
1930 Large pieces in crystal for Fontana
1930 large aluminum table presented at the IV Triennale di Monza
1930 Designs for printed fabrics for De Angeli-Frua, Milan.
1930 Fabrics for Vittorio Ferrari
1930 Cutlery and other objects for Krupp Italiana
1931 lamps for fountain, Milan
1931 Three libraries for the Opera Omnia of D'Annunzio
1931 Furniture for Turri, Varedo (Milan)
1934 Brustio Furniture, Milan
1935 Cellina Furniture, Milan
1936 Small Furniture, Milan
1936 Arredamento Pozzi, Milan
1936 Watches for Boselli, Milan
1936 scroll armchair presented at the VI Triennale di Milano, produced by Casa e Giardino, then (1946) by Cassina and (1969) by Montina.
1936 Furniture for Home and Garden, Milan
1938 Fabrics for Vittorio Ferrari, Milan
1938 Chairs for Home and Garden
1938 Steel swivel seat for Kardex
Interiors of the Settebello Train
In 1948, he collaborated with Alberto Rosselli and Antonio Fornaroli in creating 'La Cornuta,' the first horizontal boiler espresso machine produced by 'La Pavoni S.p.A.'
In 1949, Collabora collaborated with Visa mechanical workshops in Voghera to create the sewing machine 'Visetta.'
In 1952, collaborated with AVE to create electrical switches.
1955 cutlery for Arthur Krupp
1957 Superleggera Chair for Cassina
1963 Scooter Brio for Ducati
1971 small armchair seat for Walter Ponti
Luigi Filippo Tibertelli, simply known as Filippo de Pisis (Ferrara, May 11, 1896 – Milan, April 2, 1956), was an Italian painter and writer, one of the leading interpreters of Italian painting in the first half of the twentieth century.

Biography

Filippo de Pisis at the age of eighteen.
Born in Ferrara on May 11, 1896, as the third of seven children (six boys and one girl), to noble Ermanno Tibertelli and Giuseppina Donini. The noble predicate that Latinizes the name of the city of Pisa, the place of origin of his ancestors and from which the artist takes his pseudonym, has been recently confirmed by a ministerial decree recognizing his descent from a historically significant figure of the Este Duchy. Among his descendants, the writer and painter Bona de Pisis de Mandiargues was a niece (daughter of his brother Leone Tibertelli de Pisis). Filippo initially dedicated himself to studying painting under the guidance of master Odoardo Domenichini in his hometown, later perfecting his skills with the brothers Angelo and Giovan Battista Longanesi-Cattani. In 1916, he enrolled at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Bologna, where he graduated in 1920 with a thesis on Ferrarese Gothic painters, supervised by Igino Benvenuto Supino. He began his career as a literary critic and art critic, collaborating with many publications, not only local ones. His interest and passion for painting led him to live in various cities such as Rome, Venice, Milan, Paris, and London, in search of new cultural and artistic environments.

Roman period (1919-1924)
Roma frequents the house of poet Arturo Onofri and meets Giovanni Comisso, who would become his great friend. From the very first months in Rome, he begins to compose the short stories that will culminate in the collection 'The City of a Hundred Wonders,' published in 1923 with a cover featuring a work by his fellow citizen Annibale Zucchini. In 1920, he exhibited drawings and watercolors for the first time at Anton Giulio Bragaglia's art gallery on Via Condotti, alongside works by Giorgio de Chirico. It is during these years that he begins to establish himself as a painter, and his works reflect the influence of Armando Spadini. Stories of Rome's past, curiosities, and discoveries animate de Pisis, and it is precisely along this path that he composes 'Ver-Vert': 'an impudent diary of a poet who was increasingly becoming a painter.' Other writings foreshadow what would be depicted in his still lifes with landscapes.

Parisian period (1925-1939)
The Parisian period, begun in March 1925, marks his full artistic maturity. He paints en plein air like the great vedutisti and comes into contact with Édouard Manet, Camille Corot, Henri Matisse, and the Fauves. These are years in which he creates some of his most famous canvases: "The large still life with the hare," "The Bacchus," and "Still life with shells." Recurring themes, besides still lifes, include urban landscapes, male nudes, and images of hermaphrodites. Following a solo exhibition in Milan in 1926, presented by Carrà at the Lidel room, he also achieves success in Paris with his personal show at the Galerie au Sacre du Printemps, introduced by de Chirico.

Although his production is mainly linked to Paris, he continues to exhibit in Italy and begins writing articles for L'Italia Letteraria and other smaller magazines. He establishes an intense relationship with the painter Onofrio Martinelli, whom he had already met in Rome. Between 1927 and 1928, the two artists also share a house-studio on rue Bonaparte. He joins the circle of Italian artists in Paris, a group that included de Chirico, Alberto Savinio, Massimo Campigli, Mario Tozzi, Renato Paresce, Severo Pozzati, and the French critic George Waldemar (who in 1928 curated the first monograph on de Pisis). During his years living in Paris, he visits London for three brief stays, forging friendships with Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.

Return to Italy (1939-1947)

Casa di de Pisis in Venice where he lived from 1943 to 1949.
In 1939, after a stay in London, which he used to expand the market, he returned to Italy and settled in Milan. On the occasion of the Premio Saint-Vincent, he spent a summer in the Valdostana town where he also had the opportunity to meet the local painter Italo Mus. He moved to various Italian cities: at the Galleria Firenze in Florence, at the end of 1941, an exhibition titled 'Filippo de Pisis' was organized, featuring sixty-one oil paintings created between 1923 and 1940.

In 1943, he moved to Venice, where he was inspired by the paintings of Francesco Guardi and other 18th-century Venetian masters. He participated in the cultural life of the lagoon city, where he befriended and became a mentor to the Ferrarese painter Silvan Gastone Ghigi, as well as to the painter, critic, and art dealer Roberto Nonveiller. At the end of April 1945, he decided to organize a musical evening in the garden of his Venice studio, inviting dozens of handsome men, whose bodies, covered only by crab shells, would be painted from life. Among the guests were only two women, sculptor Ida Barbarigo Cadorin and art critic Daria Guarnati. The event was abruptly interrupted shortly after it began when a group of communist partisans stormed the building thanks to a tip-off. Accused of 'bourgeois softness,' the semi-naked participants, with torsos and faces painted, were immediately arrested and escorted to the police station by the partisans, before undergoing a stern interrogation mixed with teasing and reprimands. Some were released, others not: de Pisis was held for two nights in a detention cell with about a dozen common delinquents. Before being released, he was warned not to organize 'orgies of this kind' anymore.

After a brief stay in Paris between 1947 and 1948, accompanied by his student Silvan Gastone Ghigi, he returned to Italy with the first symptoms of an illness that would lead to his death. The 24th International Art Exhibition of Venice, the first after the war, dedicated a personal room to him with thirty works painted from 1926 to 1948. There was also talk of a candidacy for the Grand Prix, but a telegram from Rome prohibited the award because he was homosexual. The honor was awarded to Giorgio Morandi.