VETRI [Alla 9a Triennale di Milano]
Centro Studi Triennale No. 3
Elio Palazzo [preface], Zetti e Spreafico [Series Editors]
[Quaderni Triennale Domus] Elio Palazzo [preface], Zetti e Spreafico [Editors]: VETRI [Alla 9a Triennale di Milano]. Milan: Editoriale Domus, August 1952 [No. 3 of the Centro Studi Triennale series]. First edition. Quarto. Text in Italian. Perfect-bound in thick printed wrappers. 112 pp. 199 black and white photographic plates. Index. Illegible circular emboss to title page, and a few leaves tacky. A fine copy.
7.5 x 9.25 book with 112 pages illustrated with 199 black and white captioned plates of glassware from the finest craftsmen and studios of the era. Third of the proposed seven-volume Domus series to serve as a comprehensive published record of the 1952 Milan Triennale Exposition. All work identified by designer and manufacturer.
Manufacturers and designers include A. V. E. M., Baccarat, Alfredo Barbini, Ercole Barovier, Barovier & Toso, Mirko Basaldella, Fulvio Bianconi, Bocchina-Antoniazii, Kay Bojensen, Monica Bratt, Erwin Walter Bürger, Empoli Cappellin, Aldo Carpi, Cecconi, Gino Cenedese, Nason & Moretti, Val Saint Lambert, Ricciardi, Michel Daum, C. De Amicis, Serena Del Maschio, Vetri d’Arte Domus, Fontana Arte, Gunnel Nyman, Oswald Haerdtl, Edward Hald, Maurice Heaton, Walter Heintze, Poul Henningsen & Lauritzen Vilhelm, Holmegaards Glaswaerk, Kay Franck, Karhula-Iittala, Kosta Glasbruck, Irene Kowaliska, Lacedelli, Nils Landberg, Paesi Bassi Leerdam, R. Licata, Vicke Lindstrand, Lobmeyr, Ingeborg Lundin, Per Lutken, Mahlaü, Montelupo Mancioli, Giacomo Manzu, Martens, Notsjo Glasbruk, Obertel & Co., Orrefors, Riccardo Passoni, A. Panigati, Flavio Poli, Gio Ponti, Louis Poulsen & Co., Giulio Radi, Reijmyre Glasbruk, Rotter, Pedros Santyago, S. A. L. I. R., Giuseppe Santomaso, Romualdo Scarpa, Alberto Seguso, Archimede Seguso, Schott & Ge, Scuola Statale per l’Industria del Vetro di Zwiesel, Stenhen Design Department, Gerda Stromberg, Strombergshyttan, Richard Süssmuth, Sven Palmquist, E. Taddei, George Thompson, Andre Thuret, Tiroler Glashuette-Kufstein, Alberto Toso, Paolo Venini, Emilio Vedova, Etrusca Vetreria, Moderna Vetreria, Vinicio Vianello, Theresienthal Vetrerie, Von Poschinger, Wilhelm Wagenfeld, Tapio Wirkkala, Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik and Toni Zancanaro.
Gio Ponti and Editoriale Domus envisioned Centro Studi Triennale as a seven-volume series showcasing every facet of the 1952 Milan Triennale. Six volumes were published between May 1952 and November 1954: Volume One: Pizzi, Ricami, Tessuti, Paglia e Vimini [Lace, Embroidery, Fabrics, And Wicker Straw, 1952]; Volume Two: Oreficeria Metalli Pietre Marmi Legni Pelli Materie Plastiche [Jewelry Metals Stones Marble Wood Leather Plastic, 1952]; Volume Three: Vetri [Glass, 1952]; Volume Four: Ceramica [Ceramics, 1953]; Volume Five: Ambienti Arredati [Furnished Rooms, 1954 ]; and Volume Six : Il Quartiere Sperimentale Della Triennale Di Milano [The District Of the Experimental Triennale, 1954]. The planned Volume 5 titled Architettura dell’Esposizione Grafica e Pubblicita was never published; Ambienti Arredati was the replacement subject. The series ended with Volume 6 in 1954.
The Milan Triennial Exhibition of Decorative Arts and Modern Architecture (La Triennale di Milano) was established in Monza in 1923 as the first Biennial of Decorative Arts. The Biennial outgrew its place as a regional showcase and developed an international standing after becoming a triennial in 1930. Created as a showcase for modern decorative and industrial arts, with the aim of stimulating relations among the industry, production sectors and applied arts, La Triennale di Milano became the main Italian event for promoting architecture, visual and decorative arts, design, fashion and audio/video production. Since 1933 the Triennale has been located in Milan in the Palazzo dell’Arte.
The Triennali of the 1950s and 1960s generated critical attention and fierce debate until 1968 when the 14th Triennale was brought to an early end by student demonstrators. This manifestation of the volatility of political and social events in many ways echoed the increasingly fragile complexities of the Italian design world. Thereafter the Triennali ceased to play such a central role in design research, rhetoric, and relevance.
Milan Triennial Exhibitions recognized by the BIE took place in: 1933, 1936, 1940, 1947, 1951, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1988, 1991, and 1996.
In that year the Triennale not only showed the work of innovative young Rationalist designers Figini and Pollini in the Electric House but also work from abroad. This included contributions from the Berlin Werkbund and the Dessau Bauhaus, as well as furniture by Mies Van Der Rohe and electrical products by AEG and Siemens. In 1933 the 5th Triennale moved to the newly built Palazzo d'Arte by Giovanni Muzio in Milan. As well as an exhibition devoted to the Futurist visionary architect Antonio Sant'Elia, the prototype of the Breda ETR 200 electric express train designed by Giuseppe Pagano and Gio Ponti was exhibited as were photographs of Ciam architectural design by Le Corbusier, Gropius, and Mies Van Der Rohe. Amongst the Italian designs at the 6th Triennale of 1936 was a Modernist dwelling by Gio Ponti and the Salone della Vittoria by Edouardo Persico, Marcello Nizzoli, and others where an acknowledgement of the classicism of Mussolini's ‘Roma Secunda’ sat uneasily with the avant-garde leanings of Rationalism. Amongst progressive work from abroad was glass design by the Finnish designer Aino Aalto, who won a Gold Medal, as well as the birchwood Modernist furniture of her husband Alvar.
The 1940 Triennale came to a premature end with Italy's involvement in the Second World War. After the war the Triennali resumed in 1947, an exhibition largely devoted to housing and reconstruction: including contributions by Ettore Sottsass, Vico Magistretti, and others. At the 1951 Triennale attention was devoted to ‘The Form of the Useful’ in a display organized by Ludovico Bellgoioso and Enrico Peressutti. Such a focus on industrial aesthetics gave rise to feelings that gathered strength in the 1950s, namely that the social and economic dimensions of design were underplayed at the expense of the quest for style. Nonetheless, much experimentation was evident in the exploration of the aesthetic possibilities of foam rubber furniture, organic form, and the ‘rediscovery’ of craft traditions as a stimulus to innovative work in a number of fields. Designers such as Franco Albini, Achille and Piergiacomo Castiglione, Carlo Mollino, and Marco Zanuso did much to suggest the high profile of Italian design in the following decades. Also prominent was the work of Tapio Wirkkala, who designed the critically acclaimed Finnish display. Indeed, Scandinavian design generally featured significantly in the shows of the 1950s. During that and the following decade the Triennali of the 1950s and 1960s continued to elicit critical attention and often fierce debate until 1968 when the 14th Triennale was brought to an early end by student demonstrators. This manifestation of the volatility of political and social events in many ways echoed the increasingly fragile complexities of the Italian design world. Thereafter the Triennali ceased to play such a central role in design research, rhetoric, and relevance. [xlist_2018]