DOMUS 354
Maggio 1959
Gio Ponti [Editorial Director]
Gio Ponti [Editorial Director]: DOMUS 354. Milan, Editoriale Domus: Maggio 1959. Original edition. Text in Italian. English, German and French translation summary. Slim folio. Thick photo illustrated perfect bound wrappers. Side stitched textblock. 60 [vi] pp. Articles and advertisements. Multiple paper stocks and inserts. Elaborate graphic design throughout. Cover by William Klein. Wrappers lightly worn, but a very good copy.
9.5 x 12.75 magazine with 60 [vi] pages (printed on a variety of paper stocks) of color and black and white examples of the best modern interior and industrial design, circa 1959 -- with beautiful color engraving and gravure printing throughout.
- Airport Station: Vittorio Gandolfi
- Alitalia Office New York: Gio Ponti: 5 pages in color and black and white
- Oliver Strebelle Residence: Jacqmain, Mulpas, Wabbes: 9 pages in color and black and white
- Various Projects: Leonardo Ricci
- Attic Apartment: Ignazio Gardella: 12 pages in color and black and white
- Milan Interior: Vico Magistretti: 8 pages in color and black and white
- Fifty Years Of Art In Milan: Gillo Dorfles
- Arflex Showrooms In Naples And Milan: Vittorio Chiaia & Roberto Menghi: 8 pages in color and black and white
- Milan Office Building: Marcello Nizzoli & Mario Oliveri: 4 pages in black and white
- and more.
Long considered Europe's most influential architecture and design magazine, Domus was founded by Gio Ponti in 1928 as a "living diary" in which he could advertise his own work, outline the "aims" of his projects and raise people's awareness about other design issues. Called the "Mediterranean Megaphone, " Domus lauded mass-production and tried to link architecture and artisans in a new, unforeseen ways. Ponti left Domus in 1940 to start his other journal, Stile in which he could focus on art and the impact of the war on Italian architects and architecture. In 1948 Ponti returned to Domus, where he recast it in his own eclectic, exuberant vision of the modern and tirelessly championed designers he admired, notably Carlo Mollino.
In his 1957 book Amate L'Architettura (In Praise of Architecture) Ponti extolled his audience to "Love architecture, be it ancient or modern. Love it for its fantastic, adventurous and solemn creations; for its inventions; for the abstract, allusive and figurative forms that enchant our spirit and enrapture our thoughts. Love architecture, the stage and support of our lives." This spirit reverberates through every page of Domus.