1964–1967: San Carlo Borromeo hospital church, via San Giusto. Next came the "fitted windows", for the manufacturer Altamira in particular and that he used for his apartment via Dezza. 1964: Scarabeo sotto una foglia (Beetle under a leaf), villa Anguissola, Lido di Camaiore. With an extraordinarily prolific output and eclectic style, his oeuvre remains one of the most diverse and groundbreaking in design history. Many models also emerged in the 1960s, such as the Continuum rattan armchair for Pierantonio Bonacina (1963), wooden armchairs for Knoll International (1964), the Dezza armchair for Poltrona Frau (1966), a sofa bed for Arflex, the Novedra armchair for C&B (1968) or the Triposto stool for Tecno (1968). For the first time, fragments of some of his most renowned interior designs were reconstructed so to re-enact the variety of his joyful talent. On this occasion, he made friends with Tony Bouilhet, director of the silversmit… By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. When approaching the oeuvre of this extraordinary designer, many young architects have noted Ponti’s rare capacity to move from micro to macro, have been encouraged to work with surfaces and colour, and have addressed the problem of contemporaneity and ‘newness’. Ponti died on 16 September 1979. This confrontation is always a complex process; perhaps an easier encounter is with his thought process which, as Arata Isozaki writes, ‘from the point of view of artistic temperament, Ponti always remained coherent with himself, but his relationship with the contemporary and the ideology that underpinned it changed completely’. I contenuti di questo sito sono protetti da copyright. His most famous works are the Pirelli Tower, built from 1956 to 1960 in Milan in collaboration with the engineer Pier Luigi Nervi, the Villa Planchart in Caracas and the Superleggera chair, produced by Cassina in 1957. [7] In the late 1930s, Ponti deepened his research on Mediterranean housing by collaborating with writer and architect Bernard Rudofsky. [18] In 1957, the Superleggera chair designed for Cassina, and still produced today, was put on the market. Foliage patterns were developed on tiles for Ceramica D'Agostino. In addition to all of this, between 1936 and 1961, Ponti was a professor in the Architecture department at the Politecnico di Milano. the chair, which was very strong but also so light that it can be lifted by a child using just one finger. Conceived as large-scale abstract sculpture, it can be seen from the inside as an uninterrupted sequence of points of view where light and color prevail. He also founded the Labirinto group, with Tomaso Buzzi, Pietro Chiesa and Paolo Venini, among others. Ponti’s Molteni chairs in-situ at the Palazzo Montecatini, Milan. [2] Thanks to the magazine Domus, which he founded in 1928 and directed almost all his life, and thanks to his active participation in exhibitions such as the Milan Triennial, he was also an enthusiastic advocate of an Italian-style art of living and a major player in the renewal of Italian design after the Second World War. Advertisement of the Superleggera chair Gio Ponti, Italian architect and designer associated with the development of modern architecture and modern industrial design in Italy. Finally, he obtained an honorary doctorate from the London Royal College of Art. His daughter Lisa Licitra Ponti soon joined the editorial team. Visit our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to learn more. Concattedrale Gran Madre di Dio in Taranto, Ponti residence, apartment building, Via Dezza, Milan. Not only houses or condominium apartments, but also bridges, factories and electricity plants, all considered to be beautiful because they are modern, exactly like the work of artists that Ponti was particularly fond of, such as Fausto Melotti, Piero Fornasetti or Massimo Campigli. During his career, which spanned six decades, Ponti built more than a hundred buildings in Italy and in the rest of the world. 1961: Design of the Mostra internazionale del lavoro, Italia'61. 1931–1936: Case tipiche (typical houses), via de Togni. He studied architecture at Politecnico di Milano, receiving his degree in 1921. A mirror of the architectural and decorative arts trends, it introduced Italian readers to the modernist movement and creators such as Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Jean-Michel Frank and Marcel Breuer. As he would later recall in 1976, ‘[Ernesto Nathan] Rogers said that the client is the thing without which architecture cannot be done. The family funded a number of Ponti’s Milan projects, from the Borletti family home in 1928, designed with Emilio Lancia, to the family’s tomb in the Milan’s Cimitero Monumentale, which incorporated sculptures by Libero Andreotti. With the Bijenkorf department store in Eindhoven in the Netherlands (1966–1969), Ponti proposed another solution, by creating a tiled façade for an existing building. He set a new trend in the field of industrial design by decorating simple ceramic forms with elegant neo-classical motifs and due to his efforts and great contributions the company made remarkable progress from 1923 to 1930. 1956–1957: Diamond-shaped tiles and ceramic pebbles for Ceramica Joo, Limito. Ponti began his architectural career in partnership with Mino Fiocchi and Emilio Lancia from 1923 through 1927, and then through 1933 with Lancia only, as Studio Ponti e Lancia PL. From the beginning of his career, Ponti promoted Italian creation in all its aspects. At the turn of the 1950s, Ponti deployed a prolific creation where he sought to combine aesthetic and functional requirements: the espresso machine for La Pavoni in 1948 and the Visetta sewing machine for Visa (1949), textiles for JSA, door handles for Olivari, a range of sanitary facilities for Ideal Standard, cutlery for Krupp Italiana and Christofle, lighting for Arredoluce and furniture for the Swedish department store Nordiska Kompaniet. Other important works include a cathedral (1971) in Taranto, Italy, and the Bijenkorf shopping centre (1967) in Eindhoven, Neth. This concept applied to architecture as well as art and design. 1935–1938: First Montecatini building, via Turati. In their fearless storytelling, independent critical voices explore the forces that shape the homes, cities and places we inhabit. The ten "case tipiche" (typical houses), built in Milan between 1931 and 1938, were also close to Rationalist Modernism while retaining features of Mediterranean houses like balconies, terraces, loggias and pergolas. He also married Giulia Vimercati in 1921; they had four children (Lisa, Giovanna, Letizia, and Giulio) and eight grandchildren. On this occasion, he made friends with Tony Bouilhet, director of the silversmith company Christofle. In 1971, he participated in the construction of the Denver Art Museum in Colorado, taking care of the building's exterior envelope. Architect, designer, art director, writer, poet and critic, Gio Ponti was an allround artist who traversed much of the 20th century, profoundly influencing the taste of his time, responding to its most significant demands and anticipating many of the themes of contemporary architecture. 1944: Sets and costumes for the ballet Festa Romantica by Giuseppe Piccioli. Born and educated in Milan, the young Ponti harboured ambitions to become an artist, but instead enrolled in architecture at the Milan Polytechnic in 1913, completing his studies in 1921 after serving in the war. Buildings old and new are chosen as prisms through which arguments and broader narratives are constructed. 1936: Design of the universal exhibition of the catholic press, 1936–1942: Artistic direction and interior design of the Aula Magna, basilica and administrative building of. Since 1896, The Architectural Review has scoured the globe for architecture that challenges and inspires. Thanks to his involvement in numerous exhibitions, Ponti established himself as a major player in the development of post-war design and the diffusion of "Made in Italy". In 1957, Ponti published Amate l'architettura (In Praise of Architecture), his seminal work where he defined the expression of a finished form (la forma finita) that was simple, light, and did not allow any possibility of extension, addition, repetition or superposition. He also rationalized the production system of the pieces while maintaining their high quality of execution. 1935–1937: Paradiso del Cevedale hotel, Val Martello. It was also in the mid 1960s that he befriended art critic Pierre Restany, who became a regular contributor to the Domus magazine. [14], In the 1930s, while Ponti continued to design unique pieces of furniture for specific interiors, and encouraged the promotion of quality series production. Soon after, in 1928, Ponti produced one of his longest-lasting and successful creations, the magazine “Domus”, which very quickly became one of the most important publications dedicated to the theme of contemporary living. [13] After this major success, Ponti played a major role in the modernisation of Italian decorative arts, especially thanks to his involvement in the Monza Biennials and the Milan Triennials. 1963: Continuum armchair for Pierantonio Bonacina, Lurago d'Erba, 1967: The Los Angeles Cathedral, sculpture. [1] In Caracas, Ponti had freedom to accomplish one of his masterpieces: the Villa Planchart (1953–1957), a house designed as a work of art on the heights of the capital, immersed in a tropical garden. 1939: Competition for the Palazzo dell'Acqua e della Luce ("Palace of Water and Light") for the E42, 1949: Interior design of the ocean liners Conte Biancamano and Conte Grande for, 1950: Interior design of the ocean liners. [3] From 1936 to 1961, he taught at the Milan Polytechnic School and trained several generations of designers. Reputations, Italian architect and founder and director of Domus, Gio Ponti will be remembered for his attention to surface and urge towards simplicity in the relation of structure to form, Gio-ponti-reputations-architectural-review. 1978: Objects made from silver leaf in collaboration with Lino Sabattini. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He credited the latter with having inspired his reflection on the theme of the “Mediterranean character”, which was a fundamental factor in many designs created from the 1930s onwards: “The Mediterranean taught Rudofsky, and Rudofsky taught me”, he wrote in one of the most celebrated editions of “Aria d’Italia”. Italian architect and designer Gio Ponti (1891-1979) is difficult to pin down. 1933–1938: Case tipiche (typical houses), via Letizia and via del Caravaggio. He was however one of the most sought-after figures by important industrialists, who entrusted him with commissions such as the extension of the offices for Montecatini (completed in 1951) or the construction of Palazzo Montedoria (1964-1970), as well as, obviously, that which is probably the most famous and controversial of his works built in Italy: the new Pirelli headquarters (1952-1961), an exceptional example of harmony between architects (Ponti, together with Fornaroli, Rosselli, Valtolina and Dell’Orto), engineers (Arturo Danusso and Pierluigi Nervi), and client, in the construction of the Italian model of modern architecture par excellence, or rather the skyscraper. He created in particular a cylindrical lamp surrounded by crystal discs and mirrors and the famous Bilia Lamp. In the words of Italian architect and historian Fulvio Irace: “There was no-one who managed to express the spirit of Milan quite like him, distilling the atmosphere of the city and raising its aspirations to modernity, at the same time channelling the ambitions of the upper class towards an authenticity of expression which was never to be seen again in the years to come following his death in the home in Via Dezza. 1933–1936: Rasini building, bastioni di Porta Venezia. GIOVANNI “GIO” PONTI, the father of modern Italian design, was an artist, architect, designer, writer and publisher. Interior design, planning and design of man-made spaces, a part of environmental design and closely related to architecture. Ponti also contributed to the creation in 1954 of one of the most important design awards: the Compasso d'Oro prize. Within the new multidisciplinary review of art, architecture and interior design Domus, which he founded in 1928 with the publisher Gianni Mazzochi and which he directed almost all his life, Ponti had the opportunity to spread his ideas. Together with this manufacturer, he also produced geometrically decorated and coloured tiles to cover the floors of the Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper's headquarters in Salzburg in 1976. Ponti died on 16 September 1979. 1961–1963: Facade of the Shui Hing department store, Nathan Road. This vast hangar was designed as an architecture laboratory, an exhibition space and a space for the presentation of studies and models. Architect, designer, art director, writer, poet and critic, Gio Ponti was an allround artist who traversed much of the 20th century, profoundly influencing the taste of his time, responding to its most significant demands and anticipating many of the themes of contemporary architecture. The art historian Nathan Shapira, his student and disciple, organised that same year, with the help of Ponti, his first retrospective exhibition which travelled the United States for two years. This theatricality was reinforced by the omnipresence of ceramics, whose uses he reinvented both indoors and outdoors. Gio Ponti excelled at painting as a child and expressed a fervent interest in the arts. 1960–1964: Tiling for Ceramica d'Agostino. It takes a native son to build something as iconic as the Pirelli Tower, Gio Ponti’s 1960 masterpiece that soars over Milan. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. At Eurodomus 2 in Turin in 1968, Ponti presented a model of a city, Autilia, for which he imagined a continuous vehicle circulation system. In the 1950s, and thanks to his role in the Domus Magazine, Ponti was internationally known and commissions were multiplying, with constructions in Venezuela, Sweden, Iraq and projects in Brazil. Ponti also presented the work of Charles Eames and of the decorator Piero Fornasetti. Tutto Ponti Archi-Designer in the magniloquent Palais du Louvre, focused on decorative arts and design, while also including his multifarious other activities. 1930–1933: Textiles for Vittorio Ferrari, 1940: Paintings and objects made from enamel on copper in collaboration with, 1940–1959: furniture and interior design in partnership with, 1941–1947: Furniture decorated with enamel in collaboration with, 1942–1943: Film adaptation of the play Henry IV by. The ‘Ponti-system’ is a rich universe in dialogue with itself and the world, based on theoretical principles that, from time to time, materialise into a project in unprecedented ways, easily traversing art forms. The bottles evoke stylized female bodies. Their primary responsibility is to help produce manufactured items that not only work well but please…. You can opt out of some cookies by adjusting your browser settings. [11][12] He completely renewed the iconographic repertoire by freely revisiting the classical tradition. ... and data on his work in the field of architecture, tech with trading robots such as Bitcoin Billionaire, design and art. Ponti graduated in 1921 from the Milan Polytechnic. The historical archive of Gio Ponti's work . Created to be repeated in series, the “Domus” are apartment houses inspired by the street-garden concept, thanks to the succession of green areas between each block and the road destined for circulation. Its envelope reflected the surrounding landscape and blended into it, like the shell of a beetle. At the fifth Triennale – the first to be held in Milan – Ponti sat on the directorial committee with Carlo Alberto Felice and Mario Sironi, as well as building the Torre Littoria (renamed Branca) with Cesare Chiodi, close to Giovanni Muzio’s new Palazzo dell’Arte. ), Daniel Sherer, “Gio Ponti: The Architectonics of Design,” Catalogue Essay for, Daniel Sherer, “Gio Ponti in New York: Design, Architecture, and the Strategy of Synthesis,” in, This page was last edited on 24 September 2020, at 19:50. His intelligent and innovative design techniques and dedication with profession brought a lot of architectural commissions for his companies and offices and he soon succeeded in earning worldwide fame and … In 1925, Ponti participated in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, with the porcelain manufacturer. It is probably impossible to fit ‘tutto Ponti’ in one show, however two recent retrospectives, at the MAD in Paris (2018/19) and at the MAXXI in Rome (2019/20), have attempted to do so. Thanks to his involvement, the Biennale underwent tremendous development: renamed the Triennial of Art and Modern Architecture in 1930 and relocated to Milan in 1933, it became a privileged place to observe innovation at the international level. In 1925, Ponti participated in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris, with the porcelain manufacturer. 1935–1936: Interior design and furnishing of the Italian cultural institute, Lützow-Fürstenberg Palace. 1967: Tableware for Ceramica Franco Pozzi. 1970: Apta furniture for Walter Ponti, San Biagio. 1951: Interior design of the ocean liner Oceania for Lloyd Triestino. The Denver Art Museum (1971), designed by Ponti with James Sudler, uses slits (rather than traditional windows) to play with light and shadow. In 2011, his prolific and wide-ranging career was the subject of the exhibition “Expressions of Gio Ponti” at the Triennale Museum in Milan. [19] The aim of this review was to document all forms of artistic expression in order to stimulate creation through an independent critical perspective. Marco Romanelli, Licitra Ponti, Lisa (ed. Gio Ponti was born in Milan, Italy, in 1891. Ten years on from the trauma and destruction of the Second World War, Ponti continued to demonstrate his talent in the search for the new with the Pirelli Tower completed in 1960, which remained for a considerable time the tallest building in Milan and Europe. From 1950 to 1955, he was also in charge of the urban planning project for the Harar-Dessiè social housing district in Milan with architects Luigi Figini and Gino Pollini. 1973–1975: Tiling for Ceramica d'Agostino. Right from the beginning he worked in partnership with different individuals and remained in acquaintance with a couple of firms and engineers. Gio Ponti 1891–1979 . An outstanding draughtsman, his first direct encounter with architecture resulted in sketchbooks filled with first-hand studies of Palladio’s architecture. Gio Ponti Founds Domus Magazine, A Platform For The Emerging Italian Modernist Design. [8] Construction continued in Milan. The 1950s also saw the first experiments on the theme of the church, which was to reach a peak towards the end of Ponti’s very long career.

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