Enzo Mari (27 April 1932 – 19 October 2020) was an Italian
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
artist and furniture designer who is known to have influenced many generations of industrial designers.
Early life and education
Mari was born in
Novara
Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...
, Italy, and he studied at the
Brera Academy
The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera ("academy of fine arts of Brera"), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di ...
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 ...
, Italy from 1952 to 1956.
Career
He drew inspiration from the idealism of the
arts and crafts movement and his political views as a
communist.
From 1956 onward, he specialized in industrial design and created a portfolio of more than 2,000 works.
In the 1960s, he published a series of books, including "The Apple and the Butterfly," a book of illustrations depicting the story of a caterpillar and an apple, without any text.
In the 1970s as a professor at
The Humanitarian Society The Humanitarian Society ( it, Società Umanitaria) is a Philanthropy, philanthropic institution founded in Milan in 1893 by a bequest made by .
History
The Humanitarian Society is one of the longest standing institutions in Milan. It was founde ...
, he founded the Nuova Tendenza art movement in Milan.
Also in that decade, he designed the Sof Sof chair and the "Box" chair. In 1974, in reaction to the mass production of furniture, Enzo Mari created a book entitled, ''Autoprogettazione'', which deals with the DIY construction of furniture and provides plans and instructions on how to create 19 items of furniture from ubiquitous materials. In the 1980s, he designed the modernist Tonietta chair.
Mari also taught at
University of Parma
The University of Parma ( it, Università degli Studi di Parma, UNIPR) is a public university in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. It is organised in nine departments. As of 2016 the University of Parma has about 26,000 students.
History
During the ...
, the
Accademia Carrara
The Accademia Carrara, (), officially Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti di Bergamo, is an art gallery and an academy of fine arts in Bergamo, in Lombardy in northern Italy. The art gallery was established in about 1780 by , a Bergamasco col ...
, and the
Milan Polytechnic.
Multiple works by Mari have been on display at the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
.
He had
retrospective shows in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...
, and an important presentation of his work in the "Adhocracy" show, during the first Istanbul Design Biennial. In addition, the Triennale, Milan is exhibiting a tribute to Mari, curated by
Hans Ulrich Obrist
Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and historian of art. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...
with Francesca Giacomelli.
He donated the archive of his designs to the city of Milan on the condition that it may not be displayed for 40 years.
Personal life
Mari married art critic, theoretician and performance artist
Lea Vergine, in 1978. They had known each other since the 1960s. He died from
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
on 19 October 2020, at the age of 88, during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ().
The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2020, when ...
. His wife died a day later, also from COVID-19.
Publications
* "autoprogettazione?", 1974
Awards and recognition
*
Compasso d'Oro award: 1967 "for individual research in design"
*
Compasso d'Oro award: 1979 for the "Delfina" chair
*
Compasso d'Oro award: 1987 for the "Tonietta" chair
*
Compasso d'Oro award: 2001 for the "Legato" table
* The RSA of London presented him with the award of "HonRDI" (Honorary
Royal Designer for Industry
Royal Designer for Industry is a distinction established by the British Royal Society of Arts (RSA) in 1936, to encourage a high standard of industrial design and enhance the status of designers. It is awarded to people who have achieved "sustaine ...
) in 2000. Only 200 people may hold this title at any time.
* The Faculty of Architecture at Milan Polytechnic presented Mari with an honorary degree in Industrial Design in 2002.
Selected quotes
* "Form is everything."
* "Design is dead."
* "I want to create models for a different society."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mari, Enzo
Italian furniture designers
Compasso d'Oro Award recipients
20th-century Italian male artists
1932 births
2020 deaths
21st-century Italian male artists
Italian communists
People from Novara
Brera Academy alumni
20th-century Italian male writers
21st-century Italian male writers
University of Parma faculty
Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti di Bergamo faculty
Polytechnic University of Milan faculty
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Lombardy