DOMUS
[L’Arte Nella Casa] Gennaio 1930
Gio Ponti [Editor]
Original edition. Text in Italian. Slim quarto. Letterpress printed wrappers. Side stitched textblock. 70 pp. One color plate. Illustrated articles and advertisements. Wrappers lightly worn and soiled and mild spine wear. Nicely preserved: a very good or better copy.
8.875 x 11.6255-inch side stitched periodical with 70 pages of illustrated articles and period advertisements. From the first issue published in 1928, Domus and its’ Editorial Director Gio Ponti cast a wide net in their quest to cover all aspects of Italian creativity, from the modern plastic arts to traditional crafts, with every issue offering unexpected surprises, jarring juxtopositions, and revelatory reëvaluations.
Contents include:
- Architecture Gustavo Pulitzer in Trieste, Ugo Gennari, Gio Ponti in Campagna,
- Interiors Gigiotti Zanini in Milano, Giovanni Michelucci, Ugo Gennari, Pietro Chessa, Gabriele Mucchi in Milano, Gianni Mantero, Giovanni Muzio, Jean-Michel Franck, Mino Fiucchi, etc.
- Furniture Giovanni Michelucci Emma Robutti car seat fabrics, etc.
- Sculpture Sirio Tofananari, Antonio Cassi fireplace screen, etc.
- Foreign Work Josef Hoffman and the Wiener Werkstaäte, ceramics by Amelia Chierini, and a color plate of Richard-Ginori ceramics from Gio Ponti, etc.
- Glass Giacomo Cappellin, etc.
- And much more.
Domus was founded by Gio Ponti in 1928. During the start of the global economic depression in 1929, Ponti agreed to let the 23-year-old publisher Gianni Mazzocchi take over Domus and established the Editorial Domus publishing house. The first issue of Domus, subtitled "Architecture and decor of the modern home in the city and in the country," was published on 15 January 1928. Its mission was to renew architecture, interiors and Italian decorative arts without overlooking topics of interest to women, like the art of homemaking, gardening and cooking. Gio Ponti delineated the magazine's goals in his editorials, insisting on the importance of aesthetics and style in the field of industrial production.
Mazzocchi and Editoriale Domus took over Casabella in 1934, entrusting its direction first to Franco Albini and Giancarlo Palanti to overhaul the editorial focus on traditional interior design. Then Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig teamed up with art critic Edoardo Persico and transformed Casabella into a mouthpiece for the latest art and design trends. With intuition that allowed him to see far beyond his times, Gianni Mazzocchi successfully conceived and established magazines and journals that have contributed to shape the history of Italian publishing.