Bruno Munari (October 24, 1907 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 ...

– September 29, 1998 in Milan) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

artist, designer, and inventor who contributed fundamentals to many fields of

visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...

(painting, sculpture, film,

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

) in

modernism 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 ...

futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...

, and

concrete art Concrete art was an art movement with a strong emphasis on geometrical abstraction. The term was first formulated by Theo van Doesburg and was then used by him in 1930 to define the difference between his vision of art and that of other abstract art ...

, and in non-visual arts (literature, poetry) with his research on games,

didactic method A didactic method ( el, διδάσκειν ''didáskein'', "to teach") is a teaching method that follows a consistent scientific approach or educational style to present information to students. The didactic method of instruction is often contra ...

, movement, tactile learning,

kinesthetic learning Kinesthetic learning (American English), kinaesthetic learning (British English), or tactile learning is learning that involves physical activity. As cited by Favre (2009), Dunn and Dunn define kinesthetic learners as students who prefer whole-bod ...

, and creativity.

Early life

Bruno Munari was born in Milan but spent his childhood and teenage years in

Badia Polesine Badia Polesine is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Rovigo in the Italian region Veneto, located about southwest of Venice and about west of Rovigo. It is part of the upper Polesine, and is bounded by the Adige river, which separates ...

. In 1925 he returned to Milan where he started to work with his uncle, who was an engineer. In 1927, he started to follow

Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye d ...

and the

Futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

movement, displaying his work in many exhibitions. Three years later he associated with Riccardo Castagnedi (Ricas), with whom he worked as a graphic designer until 1938. During a trip to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, in 1933, he met

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He wa ...

and

André Breton André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...

. From 1938 to September 1943 he worked as a press graphic designer for

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

, and as art director of '' Tempo Magazine'' and ''

Grazia ''Grazia'' (; Italian for ''Grace'') is a weekly women's magazine that originated in Italy with international editions printed in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Colombia, France, Germany. Greece, Indonesia, I ...

'', two magazines owned by Mondadori. At the same time he began designing books for children, originally created for his son Alberto.

Futurism

Bruno Munari joined the 'Second' Italian Futurist movement in Italy led by

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist, and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye d ...

in the late 1920s. During this period, Munari contributed collages to Italian magazines, some of them highly propagandist, and created sculptural works which would unfold in the coming decades including his useless machines, and his abstract-geometrical works. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Munari disassociated himself with Italian Futurism because of its proto-Fascist connotations.

Later life

In 1948, Munari,

Gillo Dorfles Angelo Eugenio "Gillo" Dorfles (12 April 1910 – 2 March 2018) was an Italian art critic, painter, and philosopher. Biography Born in Trieste to a Gorizian father of Jewish descent and a Genoese mother, Dorfles graduated in medicine, specializ ...

, Gianni Monnet and Atanasio Soldati, founded ''Movimento Arte Concreta

(MAC), the Italian movement for

. During the 1940s and 1950s, Munari produced many objects for the Italian design industry, including light fixtures, ash trays, televisions, espresso machines, and toys among other object

Bruno Munari grave Milan 2015

In his later life, Munari, worried by the incorrect perception of his artistic work, which is still confused with the other genres of his activity ( didactic method, didactics,

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

graphics Graphics () are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain. In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture ...

), selected art historian Miroslava Hajek as curator of a selection of his most important works in 1969. This collection, structured chronologically, shows his continuous creativity, thematic coherence and the evolution of his aesthetic philosophy throughout his artistic life. Munari was also a significant contributor in the field of children's books and toys, later in his life, though he had been producing books for children since the 1930s. He used textured, tactile surfaces and cut-outs to create books that teach about touch, movement, and colour through

. Munari died in Milan on September 29, 1998.

Design and visual communication works

Swing into books, Book week, November 1-7, 1964

* Munari, Bruno; Scheiwiller, Giovanni (1963). ''Good design''. Milan: All'insegna del pesce d'oro (later Scheiwiller Editore) * * Munari, Bruno (1968). ''Design e comunicazione visiva. Contributo a una metodologia didattica'' esign and Visual Communication. Contributions to a Teaching Method Roma-Bari: Laterza * Munari, Bruno (1971). ''Artista e designer'' rtist and Designer Roma-Bari: Laterza * Munari, Bruno (1971). ''Codice ovvio'' bvious Code Turin: Einaudi * ''Supplemento al Dizionario Italiano''. Mantova, Italy: Corraini. 2014 The following are included in ''Design as Art''. They have also been published individually: * ''The Triangle''. Mantova, Italy: Corraini. 2007. * ''The Discovery of the Circle''. New York: G. Wittenborn. (English translation by Marcello and Edna Maestro.) 1965. * ''Discovery of the Square''. New York: George Wittenborn. (English translation by Desmond O'Grady.) 1965.

Munari's books for children

*''The Elephant's Wish''. The World Publishing Company. 1945. * ''Bruno Munari's Zoo''. Cleveland: World Pub. Co. 1963. * ''In the dark of the night''. (Nella notte buia) New York: G. Wittenborn. 1961. * ''The circus in the mist.'' New York: World Pub. Co. 1969. * ''The elephant's wish.'' Cleveland: World Pub. Co. 1959. * ''"What I'd like to be"''. London (23

Lower Belgrave Street Lower Belgrave Street is a street in London's Belgravia district. It runs north-west to south-east and begins as a continuation of Upper Belgrave Street where it meets Eaton Square. It crosses one through-street, Ebury Street, and ends in a t-j ...

, London SW1): Printed and made in Italy and published by the Harvill Press. 1945. * ''Jimmy has lost his cap: where can it be?'' New York: W. Collins. 1980. * ''Who's there?: Open the door''. New York: W. Collins. 1980. * ''Romilda the frog''. Mantova: Maurizio Corraini. 1997. * ''The lorry driver''. London: Harvill Press. 1945. * Bruno Books. Harvill Press: London; printed in Italy. 1953. Compilation of ''What I'd like to be''; ''The Lorry driver''; and ''Georgie has lost his cap.'' * ''Animals for sale.'' Mantova: Maurizio Corraini. 2004. * ''From Afar it was an Island'', Maurizio Corraini s.r.l. 2006 * ''Bruno Munari: From Afar It Is An Island'', Emme Edizioni, Milan, 1971 * ''Drawing the sun'' * ''Drawing a tree''

Major exhibitions

* 1954. Olivetti: Design in Industry. “Munari’s Slides,” used as an example of his pitture proiettate (1952–54) (Co-Curated by Bruno Munari.) * 1986 A Bruno Munari Retrospective. Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy * 1989 A Bruno Munari Retrospective. Museum of Jerusalem, Israel * 1995 Museum für Gestaltung, Zurich, Switzerland * 1995 Retrospective, Museo di Cantù, Italy * 1997 Bruno Munari Instalace, Museum of Modern Art, Klatovy Gallery, Klenova (Czech Republic) * 2004 Tinguely e Munari. Opere in azione, Museo La Spezia, Italy * 2007 Bruno Munari, Rotonda della Besana, Milan, Italy * 2008 Bruno Munari, The Museum of the Ara Pacis, Rome, Italy * 2012 Bruno Munari: My Futurist Past. Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, London, UK.

Awards and recognitions

*'' Compasso d'Oro'' award from the ''ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale)'' (1954, 1955, 1979) *Golden medal of the ''Triennale di Milano'' for the ''"Libri illeggibili"'' book (1957) *

Andersen Andersen () is a Danish-Norwegian patronymic surname meaning "son of Anders" (itself derived from the Greek name " Ανδρέας/Andreas", cf. English Andrew). It is the fifth most common surname in Denmark, shared by about 3.2% of the population.< ...

award as best child author (1974) *Honorable mention from the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Science Academy (1974) *Graphic award in the Bologna Fair for the childhood (1984) *Award from the Japan Design Foundation, ''for the intense human value of his design'' (1985) *

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

award for his exceptional contributions to the development of creativity for children (1986) *Award from

Accademia dei Lincei The Accademia dei Lincei (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed", but anglicised as the Lincean Academy) is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rom ...

for his graphic work (1988) *Award ''Spiel Gut'' of

Ulm Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...

(1971, 1973, 1987) *''Honoris causa'' in architettura from the Genova University (1989) *ADCI Milan Hall of Fame in Creativity and Communication (1990) * Marconi award of the Brera Academy (1992) *''Cavaliere di Gran Croce'' (1994) * Honorable partnership of

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Major collections and holdings

* Collezione Miroslava Hajek, Novara, Italy * Collezione Fondazione Danese-Vodoz, Milan, Italy * Collezione Angelo & Silvia Calmarini, Milan, Italy * Collezione Massimo & Sonia Cirulli Archive, New York * Collezione Dabbeni, Lugano, Switzerland * Collezione Bruno Munari. Museo Galleria del Design e dell’Arredamento, Milan, Ital

* Fondazione Casaperlarte, Cantù, Italy * Fondo Munari CSAC, University of Parma, Italy * Museum of Modern Art, New York

References

External links

*http://www.munart.org/index.php?p2=0
Bruno Munari's books for Corraini Edizioni
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munari, Bruno 1907 births 1998 deaths Artists from Milan Italian designers Italian contemporary artists Italian industrial designers Burials at the Cimitero Monumentale di Milano Olivetti people Compasso d'Oro Award recipients