Bruno Munari: A Master of Design on Display in Verona. A great name for Pirelli
The exhibition Bruno Munari: La leggerezza dell’arte will open on 12 October in the exhibition spaces of La Rotonda, a former specialised refrigeration plant from the 1930s, which has recently been renovated by the architect Mario Botta. The event is organised by Eataly Art House (E.ART.H.), and is curated by Alberto Salvadori and Luca Zaffarano, with the collaboration of the Associazione Bruno Munari and the Repetto Gallery.
The display, which will be open to the public from 13 October 2023 to 31 March 2024, looks back at Munari’s most important experiments. It will be divided into thematic sections, with the aim of documenting the creative processes and the themes that were central to his work. From his Futurist origins to his Dada experiments, through to his graphic works and publications, there will be a focus on his environmental works and his artistic research into the use of light.
The display will also include materials conceived, designed and autographed by the great Milanese artist that are now in our Historical Archive. These include window signage, magazine covers, and articles from Pirelli magazine, as well his much-loved Zizì the Monkey. Bruno Munari (Milan 1907-1998), an artist, designer, and writer, began working with Pirelli in 1949. His contributions ranged from iconic advertising campaigns for various company products, including raincoats and Coria soles (the famous poster for which is now in the permanent collection of MoMA in New York), to the design of reinforced foam rubber toys. It was Meo Romeo the cat, and then Zizì the little monkey, from the Pirelli Pigomma collection, of which Munari was the artistic director, that won the first edition of the Compasso d’Oro in 1954. The jury’s motivation was clear: “Normally, toys are ‘naturalistic’ or child-like reductions of mechanical forms, or equally naturalistic or childishly humorous imitations of animals or human figures. […] This toy belongs to a superior category, which has made it an object of intellectual interest.” Munari went on to win the coveted prize again the following year, in 1955, and then again in 1979. His toys also appeared in Pirelli magazine, as in the fairy tale “C’era una volta un re…” (“Once upon a time there was a king…”), and in “Il gatto di gommapiuma ha i baffi di nailon” (“A foam rubber cat with nylon whiskers”), Meo Romeo the cat’s debut in print. These already revealed many aspects of Maestro Munari’s artistic vision: “I must say I love thinking up and following the construction of books and toys for children. Children are the perfect public – they know what they want, they have no preconceived ideas, and if they don’t like something they’ll say so straight out, without beating about the bush. If only adults were the same, many relationships would be so much simpler.”
Munari also created trade fair stands for Pirelli, such as the one for the Plastic Materials pavilion at the 1954 Milan Fair, and the partnership continued until 1956, the year when the company and the artist, one of the towering figures of twentieth-century design, went their separate ways.
The exhibition Bruno Munari: La leggerezza dell’arte will open on 12 October in the exhibition spaces of La Rotonda, a former specialised refrigeration plant from the 1930s, which has recently been renovated by the architect Mario Botta. The event is organised by Eataly Art House (E.ART.H.), and is curated by Alberto Salvadori and Luca Zaffarano, with the collaboration of the Associazione Bruno Munari and the Repetto Gallery.
The display, which will be open to the public from 13 October 2023 to 31 March 2024, looks back at Munari’s most important experiments. It will be divided into thematic sections, with the aim of documenting the creative processes and the themes that were central to his work. From his Futurist origins to his Dada experiments, through to his graphic works and publications, there will be a focus on his environmental works and his artistic research into the use of light.
The display will also include materials conceived, designed and autographed by the great Milanese artist that are now in our Historical Archive. These include window signage, magazine covers, and articles from Pirelli magazine, as well his much-loved Zizì the Monkey. Bruno Munari (Milan 1907-1998), an artist, designer, and writer, began working with Pirelli in 1949. His contributions ranged from iconic advertising campaigns for various company products, including raincoats and Coria soles (the famous poster for which is now in the permanent collection of MoMA in New York), to the design of reinforced foam rubber toys. It was Meo Romeo the cat, and then Zizì the little monkey, from the Pirelli Pigomma collection, of which Munari was the artistic director, that won the first edition of the Compasso d’Oro in 1954. The jury’s motivation was clear: “Normally, toys are ‘naturalistic’ or child-like reductions of mechanical forms, or equally naturalistic or childishly humorous imitations of animals or human figures. […] This toy belongs to a superior category, which has made it an object of intellectual interest.” Munari went on to win the coveted prize again the following year, in 1955, and then again in 1979. His toys also appeared in Pirelli magazine, as in the fairy tale “C’era una volta un re…” (“Once upon a time there was a king…”), and in “Il gatto di gommapiuma ha i baffi di nailon” (“A foam rubber cat with nylon whiskers”), Meo Romeo the cat’s debut in print. These already revealed many aspects of Maestro Munari’s artistic vision: “I must say I love thinking up and following the construction of books and toys for children. Children are the perfect public – they know what they want, they have no preconceived ideas, and if they don’t like something they’ll say so straight out, without beating about the bush. If only adults were the same, many relationships would be so much simpler.”
Munari also created trade fair stands for Pirelli, such as the one for the Plastic Materials pavilion at the 1954 Milan Fair, and the partnership continued until 1956, the year when the company and the artist, one of the towering figures of twentieth-century design, went their separate ways.
