CODICE OVVIO
Bruno Munari
Paolo Fossati [preface], Bruno Munari: CODICE OVVIO. Torino: Giulio Einaudi, October 1971. First edition [Einaudi Letteratura 21]. Text in Italian. 8vo. Photo illustrated perfect bound wrappers. 146 pp. Balck and white illustrations. 16-page printed vellum ‘libro illeggibile’ bound in [as issued]. Spine creased and jacket worn and spotted, interior nice and clean. A nearly very good copy.
5 x 8 softcover book designed and written by Munari to explain his processes: “The book was born with extreme simplicity: from the observation that, among many monographs, panoramic and summary volumes, Munari's own on Munari was missing detailed and somehow precise information". Published for the first time by Einaudi in 1971 with a preface by Paolo Fossati, Codice obvious is the volume through which Bruno Munari decides to put together the different pieces of his multifaceted production as an artist, graphic designer, writer and designer. A dynamic auto-anthology that gives us a clearer image of his complex creativity. Obvious Codice is a path that encompasses many and outlines that Munari universe made up of words, drawings, projects and experimentation: a work that frames an artist who rejects labels, sensitive to the artistic and cultural urgencies of his time and prophetic in interpreting tensions and feel futures. To provide us with the key essential to approach obvious code is the critical text by Paolo Fossati, scholar and art critic, teacher and manager from Einaudi. It is a book that, as Fossati points out, is not a catalog of what the artist created, but rather a strong poetic declaration of the same, a trace of what has been done up to that moment, a note that could tell without explaining what it was for him art, and his way of experiencing it. “Not a book about Munari, but about Munari.”
"Bruno Munari was among the most inspirational designers of all time, described by Picasso as 'the new Leonardo'. Munari insisted that design be beautiful, functional and accessible." -- Publisher's description of "Bruno Munari: DESIGN AS ART" [Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1966]
Bruno Munari (Milan, 1907 – 1998) was mentored by the Futurist Filippo Tommaso Marinetti starting at the age of 18. Munari first showcased his "Useless Machines" in 1932 -- a series of Dadaist ever-moving geometrical solids suspended in the air. In 1948, Munari, along with Atanasio Soldati, Gianno Monet and Gillo Dorfles formed the MAC Movement [Movimento Arte Concreta] "to develop abstract painting and sculpture with no links whatsoever to the outside world." During this time, Munari continued creating his Convex-Concave sculptures and experimented with color, space, movement, form and background in his Negative-Positive works. The Italian Design Industry's interest in Munari led him to create the Pigomma Company's toy monkey, the Danese melamine cube ashtray and numerous other industrial design and illustrative works. After a career of over seventy years, Munari gained the title of "founding father of Italian design." Picasso described him as "the new Leonardo."
Munari, a self-taught man, became more than a graphic designer. He was an industrial designer, architect, writer, philosopher and educator. In the 20’s he became involved in the Futurist movement. He worked as a photographer and graphic designer for Pirelli, Cinzano, IBM and Olivetti. After WW2, he started to work as an industrial and interior designer. He challenged all conventions and stereo types, he pulled down barriers between architecture and design with his modest creativity and ingeniousness. Munari created experimental travel sculptures that could collapse and put into a suitcase, simple exquisite lamps, animated children’s books, unreadable books (Libri illegibili), useless machines and so many other beautiful artefacts. He wrote many books, and thanks to Edizione Corraini, many of those have been reprinted. He was awarded the Compasso ‘Oro, Milano in 1954, 1955 and 1979. His advice: “Take life as seriously as a game.”