Focus on Milan: Pirelli and the city through the eyes of photographers
Milan’s association with photography traces back to 1839 with the advent of the first processes for developing images. The city soon became a focal point for Italian photojournalism agencies, studios, trade magazines, and photography associations, all of which aimed to create their own visual narratives, depicting the landscapes, views, and details of the city.
These artists also focused on the world of Pirelli, taking photographs of buildings, products, people and events to illustrate the house magazines or to create advertising campaigns and catalogues. This formed a close bond between photography and the company. Delving into our Historical Archive’s rich repository of negatives, prints, and slides reveals the many-sided, eclectic essence of Milan.
First and foremost, Milan is a centre of art, with numerous cultural institutions across the area offering a public service for citizens. This extends beyond its museums and foundations, such as the Pirelli HangarBicocca contemporary art exhibition space, to include theatres such as the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, which was established in 1947 with a view to serving the community. This was pointed out in Pirelli magazine, with the photographs that illustrated the text showing not just the stage, the centre of the action, but also what went on behind the scenes, with all that was required for putting on a show, such as the costumes department and lessons at the theatre’s drama school. And then there is the Teatro Franco Parenti, which has been an artistic and cultural centre for the city since 1972.
While Milan boasts renowned architectural landmarks like the Duomo and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, both icons of the city’s skyline, it is also home to lesser-known artistic treasures tucked away in private residences. At the turn of the twentieth century, for example, the new district of Corso Venezia saw the construction of homes that interpreted the very latest trends in international modernism. Palazzo Castiglioni, in particular, caught the eye of the photographer Arno Hammacher in 1970, with its elaborate entrance gate, its majestic skylight and the extraordinary variety of wrought iron on the central staircase. The Dutch photographer, in whose work sculpture always plays a key role, meticulously investigated all these exquisite details.
Milan’s cultural richness thus transcends traditional boundaries, attracting writers, filmmakers, and artists alike. This diversity of expression can also be seen in the activities of the Pirelli Cultural Centre – which immediately made its mark in the 1950s as a top cultural venue for the city, putting on conferences, exhibitions, film festivals and musical and theatrical performances – and in the International Exhibitions of La Triennale. Some editions of the Triennale exhibitions can be precisely reconstructed through the photographs taken in the hall and exteriors of the Palazzo dell’Arte: the 11th Triennale of 1957, for example, can be seen in the Exhibition of Contemporary Architecture, Pirelli’s experimental plastic pavilion in Parco Sempione. This was designed by Roberto Menghi, with the facing by Nelly Krauss and Giulio Minoletti concealing the monumental triple portal of the building behind 20 metres of steel sheets.
Milan is also a hub of innovation and technology, as we see in the photographs of the University of Milano-Bicocca and of the Pirelli Headquarters, with the Group’s Research and Development centre. Boccioni’s The City Rises is reflected in Hammacher’s shots of the Pirelli Tower, only some of which were published in Pirelli magazine – from the first excavations to the ever-higher construction site, all the way to the final stages of construction – which perfectly convey the human scale of the undertaking. The photographs offer us a blend of artistic insight and corporate documentation at the time of Milan’s greatest post-war expansion and vitality.
The city of work and of the excellence of the “Made in Italy” label, with its creativity and economic eminence, can be found in the images of the workers busily spinning rubber fabric in the Pirelli factory in Bicocca, as well as in the photo shoots showcasing Pirelli raincoats. Photography promoted both work and expertise, especially after the Second World War, when fashion photography underwent a series of important changes: the contrived studio shots and static poses of the models from previous decades gave way to a new, more spontaneous and energetic look. Milan and its most iconic places – the Navigli, the columns of San Lorenzo and the Ca’ Granda – become the backdrop for outdoor shoots for the advertising campaigns for Pirelli coats. Dynamic compositions and a sense of movement, as well as a new view of reality, all feature in the lively street scenes caught on film in the 1960s and 1970s.
Now, as in the past, Milan is also a city on the move, bringing people together. It was with the economic boom in the 1950s that the city began to move “on rubber”, giving rise to the era of mass motorisation. The number of cars tripled and Pirelli responded with a range of increasingly specialised tyres. Alongside the historic trams – veritable icons of the Belle Époque – photographers in the 1950s and 1960s also captured the endless streams of vehicles along Via Dante, the cars in Piazza Cordusio and the traffic jams in front of the Duomo. The traditional Milanese policeman, known as the “ghisa”, with his characteristic helmet, played a key role in addressing the new challenges posed by the increase in traffic. Each era has its own icons: the Fiat 600 epitomised mass motorisation, and was followed a couple of years later by the new Fiat 500, the undisputed symbol of Italian design. It is the latter that appeared alongside other popular Italian small cars in a photo taken in 1969 in front of the Central Station, while the Vespa and Lambretta partially supplanted the bicycle as a means of daily transport. The opening of the first metro line of Milan in 1964, a beacon of modernity for all of Europe, marked the start of a new chapter. Once again, it was to be Hammacher who would tell the story of its construction, in a reportage of “living, human, almost unassuming images”. The photographers’ eye is thus key to telling the story of mobility, following its evolution all the way up to the present day.
Milan’s association with photography traces back to 1839 with the advent of the first processes for developing images. The city soon became a focal point for Italian photojournalism agencies, studios, trade magazines, and photography associations, all of which aimed to create their own visual narratives, depicting the landscapes, views, and details of the city.
These artists also focused on the world of Pirelli, taking photographs of buildings, products, people and events to illustrate the house magazines or to create advertising campaigns and catalogues. This formed a close bond between photography and the company. Delving into our Historical Archive’s rich repository of negatives, prints, and slides reveals the many-sided, eclectic essence of Milan.
First and foremost, Milan is a centre of art, with numerous cultural institutions across the area offering a public service for citizens. This extends beyond its museums and foundations, such as the Pirelli HangarBicocca contemporary art exhibition space, to include theatres such as the Piccolo Teatro di Milano, which was established in 1947 with a view to serving the community. This was pointed out in Pirelli magazine, with the photographs that illustrated the text showing not just the stage, the centre of the action, but also what went on behind the scenes, with all that was required for putting on a show, such as the costumes department and lessons at the theatre’s drama school. And then there is the Teatro Franco Parenti, which has been an artistic and cultural centre for the city since 1972.
While Milan boasts renowned architectural landmarks like the Duomo and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, both icons of the city’s skyline, it is also home to lesser-known artistic treasures tucked away in private residences. At the turn of the twentieth century, for example, the new district of Corso Venezia saw the construction of homes that interpreted the very latest trends in international modernism. Palazzo Castiglioni, in particular, caught the eye of the photographer Arno Hammacher in 1970, with its elaborate entrance gate, its majestic skylight and the extraordinary variety of wrought iron on the central staircase. The Dutch photographer, in whose work sculpture always plays a key role, meticulously investigated all these exquisite details.
Milan’s cultural richness thus transcends traditional boundaries, attracting writers, filmmakers, and artists alike. This diversity of expression can also be seen in the activities of the Pirelli Cultural Centre – which immediately made its mark in the 1950s as a top cultural venue for the city, putting on conferences, exhibitions, film festivals and musical and theatrical performances – and in the International Exhibitions of La Triennale. Some editions of the Triennale exhibitions can be precisely reconstructed through the photographs taken in the hall and exteriors of the Palazzo dell’Arte: the 11th Triennale of 1957, for example, can be seen in the Exhibition of Contemporary Architecture, Pirelli’s experimental plastic pavilion in Parco Sempione. This was designed by Roberto Menghi, with the facing by Nelly Krauss and Giulio Minoletti concealing the monumental triple portal of the building behind 20 metres of steel sheets.
Milan is also a hub of innovation and technology, as we see in the photographs of the University of Milano-Bicocca and of the Pirelli Headquarters, with the Group’s Research and Development centre. Boccioni’s The City Rises is reflected in Hammacher’s shots of the Pirelli Tower, only some of which were published in Pirelli magazine – from the first excavations to the ever-higher construction site, all the way to the final stages of construction – which perfectly convey the human scale of the undertaking. The photographs offer us a blend of artistic insight and corporate documentation at the time of Milan’s greatest post-war expansion and vitality.
The city of work and of the excellence of the “Made in Italy” label, with its creativity and economic eminence, can be found in the images of the workers busily spinning rubber fabric in the Pirelli factory in Bicocca, as well as in the photo shoots showcasing Pirelli raincoats. Photography promoted both work and expertise, especially after the Second World War, when fashion photography underwent a series of important changes: the contrived studio shots and static poses of the models from previous decades gave way to a new, more spontaneous and energetic look. Milan and its most iconic places – the Navigli, the columns of San Lorenzo and the Ca’ Granda – become the backdrop for outdoor shoots for the advertising campaigns for Pirelli coats. Dynamic compositions and a sense of movement, as well as a new view of reality, all feature in the lively street scenes caught on film in the 1960s and 1970s.
Now, as in the past, Milan is also a city on the move, bringing people together. It was with the economic boom in the 1950s that the city began to move “on rubber”, giving rise to the era of mass motorisation. The number of cars tripled and Pirelli responded with a range of increasingly specialised tyres. Alongside the historic trams – veritable icons of the Belle Époque – photographers in the 1950s and 1960s also captured the endless streams of vehicles along Via Dante, the cars in Piazza Cordusio and the traffic jams in front of the Duomo. The traditional Milanese policeman, known as the “ghisa”, with his characteristic helmet, played a key role in addressing the new challenges posed by the increase in traffic. Each era has its own icons: the Fiat 600 epitomised mass motorisation, and was followed a couple of years later by the new Fiat 500, the undisputed symbol of Italian design. It is the latter that appeared alongside other popular Italian small cars in a photo taken in 1969 in front of the Central Station, while the Vespa and Lambretta partially supplanted the bicycle as a means of daily transport. The opening of the first metro line of Milan in 1964, a beacon of modernity for all of Europe, marked the start of a new chapter. Once again, it was to be Hammacher who would tell the story of its construction, in a reportage of “living, human, almost unassuming images”. The photographers’ eye is thus key to telling the story of mobility, following its evolution all the way up to the present day.
