Barbara Radice (born 29 November 1943) is an Italian design critic, writer, and editor.

Early life and education

Barbara Radice was born in

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

, Italy, and graduated from the

Catholic University of Milan The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in 1968.

Career

Radice is one of the seven founding members of the

Memphis Group The Memphis Group, also known as Memphis Milano, was an Italian design and architecture group founded by Ettore Sottsass. It was active from 1980 to 1987. The group designed postmodern furniture, lighting, fabrics, carpets, ceramics, glass and m ...

, and the only non-architect among them. The Italian

postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

design collective was formed during a gathering at her home in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

in December 1980. In her critical writing, Radice defined the themes and theories of this new aesthetic movement, and would become the group's de facto historian and chronicler. In 1984 she published ''Memphis: Research, Experiences, Results, Failures and Successes of New Design'', a manifesto for the group's design philosophy. In it she focused on the broad output of the group's designers, from laminates and glass designs by

Ettore Sottsass Ettore Sottsass (Innsbruck, Austria 14 September 1917 – Milan, Italy 31 December 2007) was a 20th century Italian architect, noted for also designing furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting, home and office wares, as well as numerous buildings an ...

to patterned fabrics by

Nathalie du Pasquier Nathalie Du Pasquier (born 1957) is a Milan-based artist and designer mostly known for her work as a founding member of the Memphis Group. Her early body of work includes furniture, textiles, clothing designs and jewelry in addition to iconic wo ...

and ceramics by

Matteo Thun Matteo Thun (full name Mathäus Antonius Maria Graf von Thun and Hohenstein, 17 June 1952 Bolzano, Italy) is an Italian architect and designer. Biography Matteo Thun was born in Bolzano in 1952 as the first son of the South Tyrolean entrepreneuri ...

. Radice served as editor of the design and architecture magazine Terrazzo (published from 1988-1997) which she began in collaboration with Ettore Sottsass. The publication's name has a double meaning: it is both an Italian word meaning "place of encounter" and a reference to the popular style of flooring known by that name. Radice is also Sottsass's biographer and widow, and is involved in preserving his legacy and that of the Memphis Group. She curated the 2017 exhibit "Ettore Sottsass – There Is a Planet" for the 2017

Milan Triennial The ''Milan Triennial'' (Triennale di Milano) is an art and design exhibition that takes place every three years at the Triennale di Milano Museum in Milan, Italy. History The exhibition was originally established in 1923 as a biennial architect ...

. In 2018, Radice came into conflict with the

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

in Amsterdam over a retrospective of Sottsass's work. The museum claimed that the estate was too controlling and released a statement describing being given "too little scope for interpretations we wished to explore in the presentation.” Radice and the estate's gallery owner Ernest Mourmans turned the blame on the institution, suggesting that the curatorial team was "adversarial," and refused to loan objects for the show. The differences could not be resolved and the show was ultimately cancelled.

Publications

Ettore Sottsass – There is a Planet (38378159881)

''Elogio del banale, Torino.'' Studio forma, Torino & Alchymia, Milano, 1980. ''Memphis: Research, Experiences, Results, Failures and Successes of New Design.'' Rizzoli, 1984 ''Jewelry By Architects.'' Electa, Milan, 1987. ''Ettore Sottsass: A Critical Biography'', Thames & Hudson. 1993 ''Ettore Sottsass: Scritti''. Neri Pozza Editore, Milan, 2002 (edited with M. Carboni) ''Metafore''. Skirà Editore, Milan, 2002 (edited with M. Carboni) ''Memphis: The New International Style''. Mondadori Electa, Milan, 2008. ''Ettore Sottsass: There is a Planet''. Catalogue for exhibition at Triennale Design Museum, Electa, 2016

Personal life

Barbara Radice was married to fellow Memphis member and designer Ettore Sottsass until his death in 2007. The couple met in 1976 at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radice, Barbara 1943 births Living people People from Como Italian women writers Italian writers Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore alumni