Design as Art: Bruno Munari (Penguin Modern Classics)

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Bruno Munari was born in Milan but spent his childhood and teenage years in Badia Polesine, where his family had relocated to run a hotel. [2] In 1926 he returned to Milan where he started to work with his uncle, who was an engineer. In 1927, he started to follow Marinetti and the Futurist movement, displaying his work in many exhibitions. Three years later he associated with Riccardo Castagnedi (Ricas), with whom he worked as a graphic designer until 1938. During a trip to Paris, in 1933, he met Louis Aragon and André Breton. From 1938 to September 1943 he worked as a press graphic designer for Mondadori, and as art director of Tempo Magazine and Grazia, two magazines owned by Mondadori. At the same time he began designing books for children, originally created for his son Alberto. [3] Futurism [ edit ]

In his later life, Munari, worried by the incorrect perception of his artistic work, which is still confused with the other genres of his activity (didactics, design, graphics), selected art historian Miroslava Hajek as curator of a selection of his most important works in 1969. This collection, structured chronologically, shows his continuous creativity, thematic coherence and the evolution of his aesthetic philosophy throughout his artistic life.

Hájek, Miroslava, “Bruno Munari, Futurista." From 2012. Bruno Munari: my futurist past. Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Miroslava Hajek, Luca Panaro, Fantasia esatta i colori della luce di Bruno Munari, APM edizioni, 2008, ISBN 978-88-89109-28-1.

Our job is therefore to invent a new system of education that may lead — by way of a new kind of specialized teaching of science and technology — to a complete knowledge of human needs and a universal awareness of them. I will limit myself to saying that Bruno Munari is one of the most important designers of the last century, a figure who defined the role of the designer, both with his professional experiences and with his thoughts. The takeaways are truly your own as a creative person, so its kind of a make-what-you-will of these essays, here is what Bruno Munari has to say about design stuff. Some takeaways that really ring true for you, depending on your field of creativity, you'll highlight or bookmark and reference for later. Giocare con l'arte (1988) Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, laboratori permanenti Any rational concept of the function of Industrial Design must begin be rejecting the all too common production of objects that are absolutely useless to man. (…) One such object is the rose. The object is very widely produced, and this production often becomes really chaotic in circumstances when the economics of production have been given no serious study at all. The object is formally coherent and pleasantly coloured. It comes in a wide variety of colours, all of them warm. The distribution channels for the sap are well worked out and arranged with great precision; indeed, with excessive precision in the case of those parts which are hidden from view. The petals are elegantly curved, reminding one of a Pininfarina sports car design”.Munari is a giant of 20th-century Italian design, a figure of incredible depth who helped define the role of the designer as we know it today. Design as Art, originally published in 1966, is probably not his most important book, but it represents an interesting journey through his thoughts. It is useful for young people aspiring to a design career as well as for experienced designers who want to improve the communication of their projects. If you enjoyed Design as Art, you might like John Berger's Ways of Seeing, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Bruno Munari joined the 'Second' Italian Futurist movement in Italy led by Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in the late 1920s. During this period, Munari contributed collages to Italian magazines, some of them highly propagandist, and created sculptural works which would unfold in the coming decades including his useless machines, and his abstract-geometrical works. [4] After World War II Munari disassociated himself with Italian Futurism because of its proto-Fascist connotations. [5] Later life [ edit ]

Why Design as Art is important, for whom I recommended it

Olivetti: Design in Industry. "Munari's Slides," used as an example of his pitture proiettate (1952–54; co-curated by Bruno Munari.) Miroslava Hajek, Luca Zaffarano, Bruno Munari: my futurist past, Silvana Editorale, 2012, ISBN 978-88-36624-75-1. I am ashamed to write these few lines about Munari. Not only because reading his story makes me realise how unattainable the quality and scope of his imprint is. But also because Munari did so much and so well that it is impossible to reduce him to a biography.

Today it has become necessary to demolish the myth of the ‘star’ artist who only produces masterpieces for a small group of ultra-intelligent people. It must be understood that as long as art stands aside from the problems of life it will only interest a very few people. Culture today is becoming a mass affair, and the artist must step down from his pedestal and be prepared to make a sign for a butcher’s shop (if he knows how to do it). The artist must cast off the last rags of romanticism and become active as a man among men, well up in present-day techniques, materials and working methods. Without losing his innate aesthetic sense he must be able to respond with humility and competence to the demands his neighbors may make of him.

Bruno Munari (October 24, 1907, Milan – September 30, 1998, Milan) was an Italian artist, designer, and inventor who contributed fundamentals to many fields of visual arts (painting, sculpture, film, industrial design, graphic design) in modernism, futurism, and concrete art, and in non visual arts (literature, poetry) with his research on games, didactic method, movement, tactile learning, kinesthetic learning, and creativity. Francesco Franco, Bruno Munari. Dalla copertina alla coperta, fino al riciclaggio del ciclo, in "BTA – Bollettino Telematico dell’Arte", 21/3/2007, n. 451, [3]. In 1948, Munari, Gillo Dorfles, Gianni Monnet and Atanasio Soldati, founded Movimento Arte Concreta (MAC), [6] the Italian movement for concrete art. During the 1940s and 1950s, Munari produced many objects for the Italian design industry, including light fixtures, ashtrays, televisions, espresso machines, and toys among other objects. [7] Cubo ashtray designed for Danese Milano (1957) Falkland pendant light designed for Danese Milano