The Factory in Pictures: Pirelli Factories in Technical and Artistic Drawings
In 1881, Pirelli took part in the Italian National Exhibition in Milan: this was the first in a long series of attendances at the most important national and international trade fairs, including those in Paris (1900), Osaka (1903), and Saint Louis (1904). And indeed it was at these events that Pirelli’s first forms of communication began to appear: there were brochures introducing the company and showing off its products, and signs that were displayed on the stands with great emphasis on the imagery of the factory and its workers, effectively conveying an idea of the development and solidity of the company.
In some cases, the illustrations of the factories were entrusted to painters such as Antonio Bonamore, who in 1889 created a drawing of the factory in Via Ponte Seveso, and Mario Stroppa, who in 1911 created a perspective view of the factory in Bicocca. In other cases, the works were by draughtsmen hired by the company to do technical drawings, but who were often also used for creating figurative drawings for celebratory purposes or for advertisements. Giuseppe Galli, for example, was taken on in 1886 to work in the first department for the production of technical items made of rubber, but later became the technical assistant to the engineer Emilio Calcagni thanks to his artistic talent. He was assigned “drawing works, both geometric and ornamental”, as we read in his personal file, which is now in our Historical Archive. Galli created a variety of illustrated communication materials, including the“Catalogue of Tyres and Accessories” of 1899, the postcard of the Staff Cooperative Company of the Pirelli & C. factory in Milan of 1901, and the view of the Villanueva y la Geltrù plant, published in 1911 in Pirelli & C. 40 anni di industria, next to a view of the Bicocca factory made by Stroppa. During his time as an employee at Pirelli, Galli also worked as a watercolourist, achieving some success and indeed, in 1917, he was nominated as an honorary member of the Accademia di Brera. In 1921 he left Pirelli to devote himself exclusively to painting.
The illustration of the factories was naturally again at the centre of Pirelli’s fiftieth-anniversary celebrations and, once again, the artists who created the views were employees of the company. In 1922 Domenico Bonamini and Umberto Ubaldi created some large posters with views of the factories and statistics concerning production, which went on display in the Museo Storico delle Industrie Pirelli, set up inside the Bicocca degli Arcimboldi. Both these artists were graduates from the Accademia delle Belle Arti (between 1902 and 1914, Ubaldi had also been a painter for Rovescalli, a set designer in Milan): one worked in the Plant and Maintenance Department, the other in the Tyre Technical Office.
Two large drawings, recently restored, of the interiors of a department of the Pirelli cables sector, were also made in 1922. Even though they do not appear to have been part of the series of posters on display in the Museum, the date, the dimensions (about 85 x 65 cm) and the subject all suggest they were made for the fiftieth-anniversary celebrations. The drawings were the work of Giuseppe Meloni, who joined Pirelli in 1917 as a draughtsman in the machinery office of the cable sector, upon the recommendation of Luigi Emanueli, who was then the technical director of Cables. Meloni had attended three drawing courses at the Accademia delle Belle Arti and two courses at the Scuola Superiore d’Arte Applicata all’Industria, the high school for art applied to industry, in Milan. The drawings, made with pencil, Indian ink, watercolours and pastels on cardboard, are part of a series of works, preserved in our Historical Archive, which retrace the history of Pirelli’s products and international research in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries..
In 1881, Pirelli took part in the Italian National Exhibition in Milan: this was the first in a long series of attendances at the most important national and international trade fairs, including those in Paris (1900), Osaka (1903), and Saint Louis (1904). And indeed it was at these events that Pirelli’s first forms of communication began to appear: there were brochures introducing the company and showing off its products, and signs that were displayed on the stands with great emphasis on the imagery of the factory and its workers, effectively conveying an idea of the development and solidity of the company.
In some cases, the illustrations of the factories were entrusted to painters such as Antonio Bonamore, who in 1889 created a drawing of the factory in Via Ponte Seveso, and Mario Stroppa, who in 1911 created a perspective view of the factory in Bicocca. In other cases, the works were by draughtsmen hired by the company to do technical drawings, but who were often also used for creating figurative drawings for celebratory purposes or for advertisements. Giuseppe Galli, for example, was taken on in 1886 to work in the first department for the production of technical items made of rubber, but later became the technical assistant to the engineer Emilio Calcagni thanks to his artistic talent. He was assigned “drawing works, both geometric and ornamental”, as we read in his personal file, which is now in our Historical Archive. Galli created a variety of illustrated communication materials, including the“Catalogue of Tyres and Accessories” of 1899, the postcard of the Staff Cooperative Company of the Pirelli & C. factory in Milan of 1901, and the view of the Villanueva y la Geltrù plant, published in 1911 in Pirelli & C. 40 anni di industria, next to a view of the Bicocca factory made by Stroppa. During his time as an employee at Pirelli, Galli also worked as a watercolourist, achieving some success and indeed, in 1917, he was nominated as an honorary member of the Accademia di Brera. In 1921 he left Pirelli to devote himself exclusively to painting.
The illustration of the factories was naturally again at the centre of Pirelli’s fiftieth-anniversary celebrations and, once again, the artists who created the views were employees of the company. In 1922 Domenico Bonamini and Umberto Ubaldi created some large posters with views of the factories and statistics concerning production, which went on display in the Museo Storico delle Industrie Pirelli, set up inside the Bicocca degli Arcimboldi. Both these artists were graduates from the Accademia delle Belle Arti (between 1902 and 1914, Ubaldi had also been a painter for Rovescalli, a set designer in Milan): one worked in the Plant and Maintenance Department, the other in the Tyre Technical Office.
Two large drawings, recently restored, of the interiors of a department of the Pirelli cables sector, were also made in 1922. Even though they do not appear to have been part of the series of posters on display in the Museum, the date, the dimensions (about 85 x 65 cm) and the subject all suggest they were made for the fiftieth-anniversary celebrations. The drawings were the work of Giuseppe Meloni, who joined Pirelli in 1917 as a draughtsman in the machinery office of the cable sector, upon the recommendation of Luigi Emanueli, who was then the technical director of Cables. Meloni had attended three drawing courses at the Accademia delle Belle Arti and two courses at the Scuola Superiore d’Arte Applicata all’Industria, the high school for art applied to industry, in Milan. The drawings, made with pencil, Indian ink, watercolours and pastels on cardboard, are part of a series of works, preserved in our Historical Archive, which retrace the history of Pirelli’s products and international research in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries..