An exposition dedicated to Gio Ponti will be inaugurated today at the Biblioteca del Senato di Milano. The show’s curator is Rossana Bossaglia and was organized in collaboration with Museo Richard Ginori and Manifattura di Doccia. It highlights the Milanese architect’s role as a leader during the Italian Déco period whose "epicenter" was right in Lombardy’s capital. These include the years of the Monza Biennials (1923, '25, '27) and the subsequent Triennale di Milano (1930). On display are the lesser-known works of the designer, together with Pier Luigi Nervi, of the Pirelli skyscraper: approximately 90 majolicas created together with Manifattura di Doccia (Ponti was its operating director from 1923 to 1930). There will be series of plates and vases like the one nicknamed "Le mie donne" (My women) where eight girls (Agata, Apollonia, Balbina, Emerenziana, Domitilla, Donatella, Fabrizia, Leonia) are portrayed in just as many positions, joined by a lone figure (Isabella) who dominates on a large plate.

The exhibition’s route also foresees 67 drawings and 32 letters with small drawings ("I have been a failure as an architect and should have been an artist since my real calling is to paint", confided the eclectic Ponti, designer by innate gift) and some furniture which he himself defined as "subtle, slender and elegant".

A foray into architecture could not be skipped in trying to understand Milan during the twenties, ready to restart construction activity immediately after the war. From the Ponti House in via Randaccio to the House in via Domenichino, the first with multicolored facades, shows the attempt to integrate modernity with Italian tradition.

A short tribute will take place at the opening of "Gio Ponti, maestro del Déco", coordinated by Andrea Bosco with the participation of the exhibit’s curator Rossana Bossaglia as well as Cesare Casati, Emilio Tadini, Guido Vergani, and Stefano Zecchi.

From November 9 2001 through March 31, 2002
Fondazione Biblioteca di via Senato
Via Senato 14, Milan
Information: ph. +39-2-76215318