ITALY AT WORK
HER RENAISSANCE IN DESIGN TODAY
Meyric R. Rogers, Walter Dorwin Teague [foreword]
Meyric R. Rogers, Walter Dorwin Teague [foreword]: ITALY AT WORK. HER RENAISSANCE IN DESIGN TODAY. Rome: The Compagnia Nazionale Artigiana, 1950. First edition. Quarto. Text in English. Thick photo illustrated yapped wrappers. 125 pp. 145 black and white illustrations. Wrappers lightly worn with a darkened spine. Textblock lightly worn. Interior unmarked and very clean. Out-of-print. A very good or better copy.
8 x 9.75 softcover book with 125 pages with 145 black and white illustrations of postwar Italian Design, including Italian furniture, intarsia decoration, glass, metalwork, enamels, pietra dura and mosaic, costume jewellery, accessories, textiles, embroideries, strawwork, toys, and industrial designs. ITALY AT WORK. was produced as a handbook for the travelling show of the same name that toured the United States in the early 1950s and had a significant impact on consumer taste across America.
A very useful reference for those who are on the look-out for lesser-known pieces of Italian post-war design. You have been warned.
From Walter Dorwin Teague’s foreword: “In the text that follows, Meyric Rogers has described the renaissance of Italian design today with acute and sympathetic understanding . . . Meyric Rogers survey, as brief as it is, is so sound and comprehensive that it calls for nothing more than concurrence from me. But I was one of the fortunate group which traveled up and down Italy, in the spring of 1950, seeking out the Italian craftsmen in the odd places where they live and work, and selecting the objects that make up this collection . . . Here they are grouped together in neutral settings, displayed with the respect they deserve, to be judged quite properly on their aesthetic values alone.”
Contents
- Committees
- Institutional Sponsors
- Foreword by Walter Dorwin Teague
- Author’s Preface
- Introduction: Italy after the War; Organization and Aims of the Exhibition
- Arts and Crafts in Italy Today:
- Furniture
- Ceramics
- Glass
- Metalwork and Enamels
- Hard Stone (Pietra Dura) and Mosaic
- Costume Jewelry and Accessories
- Textiles and Embroideries
- Strawwork
- Toys
- Industrial Design
- Five Special Interiors:
- Foyer for Marionette Theatre by Fabrizio Clerici
- Terrace Room by Luigi Cosenza
- Private Chapel by Roberto Menghi
- Living-Dining Room by Carlo Mollino
- Dining Room by Gio Ponti
- In Conclusion
- Appendix: Producers and Designers
- Plates
Producers and Designers include Carlo Mollino, Azucena, Cesare Lacca, Casa e Giardino, Guglielmo Pecorini, Massimo Carola, Arte Luce, Pietro Maffeis, Fontana Arte, Venice Seguso, Vittorio Lombardi, Giuseppe Capri, Enrico Bernardi, Guido Gambone, Lucio Fontana, Salvatore Fancello, Luigi Broggini, Leonardi Leoncillo, Pietro and Annamaria Cesarini Cascella, Agenore Fabbri, Moticelli, Aligi Sassù, Antonia Campi, A. di Spilimbergo, Giambattisto De Salvo, Prisco and Urbano Zaccagnini, Cannon Ernestine and Salerno D’Agostino, Doccia Richard-Ginori, Arte Artigianato Orobico, Franco Normanni, Arte Industria Vicentina, Otello De Maria, Paolo Venini, Alfredo Barbini, E. & C. Taddei, Nason and Moretti, Fontana Arte, Argenteria Finzi, Paolo De Poli, Nino Ferrari, Dona, Richard Blow, Giacomo Prampolini, Leopoldo Menegatti, Goffredo and Renato Gregorini, Luciana, Emma Ivancich, Carlo Barbasetti, Carocci, Myricae, Linificio & Canapificio Nazionale, Fede Cheti, MITA, Angelina Migliaccio, Brevetti Robbiati, Innocenti, and Olivetti among many others.
Catalog for a travelling show that vistied the Baltimore Museum of Art, Albright Art Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts of Houston, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Institute, Portland Art Museum, Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design, City Art Museum of Saint Louis, M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, and the Toledo Museum of Art.