Bruno Munari was one of the most important and eclectic twentieth-century European artists. Dubbed the «Leonardo and Peter Pan» of contemporary art, he pioneered what would later be labelled kinetic art, playing a key role in the constitution and definition of the aesthetic programmes of groups such as Movimento Arte Concreta and Programmed Art. He became an internationally recognized name in the field of industrial design, winning the prestigious «Compasso dOro» prize four times, while also being a prominent figure in Italian graphic design, working for magazines such as Tempo and Domus, as well as renowned publishing companies such as Einaudi and Bompiani. He left an indelible mark as an art pedagogue and popularizer with his famous 1970s artistic laboratories for children and was the author of numerous books, ranging from essays on art and design to experimental books.
Capturing a resurgent interest in Munari at the international level, the exceptional array of critical voices in this volume constitutes an academic study of Munari of a depth and range that is unprecedented in any language, offering a unique analysis of Munaris seven-decade-long career. Through original archival research, and illuminating and generative comparisons with other artists and movements both within and outside Italy, the essays gathered here offer novel readings of more familiar aspects of Munaris career while also addressing those aspects that have received scant or no attention to date.
Bruno Munari was one of the most important and eclectic twentieth-century European artists, pioneering what would later be labelled kinetic art. Through original archival research and illuminating comparisons with other artists and movements, both within and outside Italy, this volume offers a unique analysis of Munaris seven-decade-long career.
CONTENTS: Pierpaolo Antonello/Matilde Nardelli/Margherita Zanoletti:
Introduction: Bruno Munaris Lightness Ara H. Merjian: «On the Verge of the
Absurd»: Munari, Dada, and Surrealism in Interwar Italy Anthony White:
Bruno Munari and Lucio Fontana: Parallel Lives Giovanni Rubino: Bruno
Munari versus Programmed Art: A Contradictory Situation, 19611967 Jeffrey
Schnapp: The Little Theatre of the Page Maria Antonella Pelizzari: The
Charade of Bruno Munaris Photo-reportage (1944) Margherita Zanoletti: Word
Imagery and Images of Words: Bruno Munari the Writer Nicola Lucchi: «The
Great Painter Paints the Bakers Sign»: Bruno Munari and the Art of
Advertising Matilde Nardelli: The Small, the Large, and the Moving: Bruno
Munari and Cinema Pierpaolo Antonello: Bruno Munaris Natural Forms Romy
Golan: Campo Urbano: Episodes from an Unwritten History of Participation
Teresa Kittler: Bruno Munaris Environmental Awareness.
Pierpaolo Antonello is Reader in Italian Literature and Culture at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of St Johns College.
Matilde Nardelli is Senior Lecturer in Historical and Contextual Studies at the University of West London and Teaching Fellow in History of Art at University College London.
Margherita Zanoletti holds a PhD in Italian Studies from the University of Melbourne and currently works at the Universitą Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan.
