Giovanni Pintori (1912 – 1999) Italian Graphic Design

Olivetti Lexikon 1954
Olivetti Lexikon 1954

Italian graphic designer Giovanni Pintori (1912–1999) is best known for his advertising work with Olivetti. In particular, his posters for the Lettera 22 and the Olivetti logo are renowned for their use of geometric shapes and minimalist design.

Early life and education

He was the fifth child out of six born to a dairy worker father and a homemaker mother on July 14, 1912, in Tresnuraghes, Sardinia. Pintori worked as a typist in 1927 while residing in Sardinia until 1930. He frequently visited a gallery run by photographer Piero Pirari while working as a typewriter operator. Pintori started attending the Higher Institute for Artistic Industries (ISIA) in 1930 after Pirari advised him to apply for a scholarship there. Along with Salvatore Fancello and Costantino Nivola, Pintori was awarded the scholarship. Elio Palazzo, the ISIA’s director and a professor of descriptive geometry, was Pintori’s professor during his time there. Some of his other notable professors were Giuseppe Pagano, Edoardo Persico, and Marcello Nizzoli. Pintori began working on a project at ISIA for the Aosta Valley town planning scheme, and it was through this project he met Olivetti’s Renato Zveteremich. He created an exhibition for the VIIth Milan Triennial in 1940 in partnership with the poet and engineer Leonardo Sinisgalli, which won the Grand Prize for exhibition design.

Work with Olivetti

Pintori joined the Italian typewriter manufacturer Olivetti, established in 1908, after graduating in 1936. Before starting as the art director in 1950, he worked in the advertising division. From 1951 to 1969, Pintori was in charge of creating Olivetti’s advertisements, posters, and calendars. For each year’s calendar, he chose a group of twelve paintings. Henri Rousseau was honoured in the first calendar, and Nanban art was the subject of the final one. Following the “Olivetti: design in industry” exhibition held in the Museum of Modern Art in October–November 1952, Pintori won recognition on a global scale. This exhibit was referred to as “Industry’s new approach to art” by The New York Times.

Olivetti poster 1949 by Giovanni Pintori MoMA
Olivetti poster 1949 by Giovanni Pintori MoMA

Giovanni Pintori was the recipient of many awards while working at Olivetti:

  • The Gold Medal for advertising by the Federazione Italiana pubblicità (1950);
  • The Certificate of Excellence in the Graphic Arts by the American Institute for Graphic Arts (1955);
  • The Gold Medal by the Milan Trade Fair and the First Prize Diploma by Linea Grafica (1956);
  • The Grand Prize at the XIth Triennial in Milan (1957);
  • The Typographic Excellence Award from the New York Directors Club (1962);
  • The Certificate of Merit from the New York Art Directors Club (1964).

Later Work

Due to disagreements with the company’s new management, Pintori decided to leave Olivetti in 1967, seven years after Adriano Olivetti’s passing.

He held a solo exhibition in 1967 at Tokyo’s Design Committee Gallery. Pintori opened his studio after leaving Olivetti and started working as a freelance designer out of Milan. He kept working as a freelancer for Olivetti while also doing work for many other businesses in the Milan area. He created covers for books and magazines, such as Successo and I racconti (Stories) by Bigiaretti. He also worked on the 1980 advertising campaign for Merzario S.p.A., which would be his final advertising project before he passed away. Among his clients were Ambrosetti, SIRTI, Ufficio Moderno, and Gabbianelli.

Up until the conclusion of the Merzario campaign, he would work in design. After that, he would only paint. However, many of Pintori’s later paintings are little known because he kept his work private. His paintings have appeared in some of his design projects for advertising agencies throughout his career. However, he stopped using graphic design in his work and instead incorporated many images of perpetual motion into his work. Only one public exhibition of Pintori’s artwork took place in Milan in 1981. He would stay in Milan until his 87th birthday on November 15, 1999, when he passed away.

Style

Pintori’s minimalistic aesthetic is most well-known for its use of colour and geometric shapes. Instead of creating a replica of an object, many of his designs focused on simplified versions of existing objects. Pintori created his sign language, using symbols like a bird, flower, ship, letter, and number.

Giovanni Pintori “succeed in fostering the perception of lightness and transportability through images of pure suggestion, from the flight of a bird to a sailing ship composed of letters, numbers, and punctuation marks – and subsequently suggesting swift ocean crossings, or the association of the typewriter with the lightness of a feather,” as noted by M. Sironi. As a result, he could depict products in his advertising with solid imagery and straightforward colouring. Regarding his design method, Pintori said: “I do not attempt to speak on behalf of the machines. Instead, I have tried to make them speak for themselves through the graphic presentation of their elements, their operations and their use.”

Sources

Barnicoat, J. (1972). A concise history of posters: 1870-1970. H.N. Abrams. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof0000john_n3r0/page/118/mode/2up?q=%22Giovanni+Pintori%22.

Booth-Clibborn, E., & Baroni, D. (1980). The language of graphics. H.N. Abrams. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://archive.org/details/languageofgraphi0000boot/page/150/mode/2up?q=%22Giovanni+Pintori%22.

Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL

Pintori, G. (2015). Giovanni Pintori. Moleskine. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://amzn.to/3Chf4Tq.

Wikipedia contributors. (2021, July 19). Giovanni Pintori. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10:58, September 28, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giovanni_Pintori&oldid=1034418716

Wrede, S., & Oldenburg, R. E. (1988). The modern poster. Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://archive.org/details/modernposter0000muse/page/34/mode/2up?q=%22Giovanni+Pintori%22.

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    Carlo Bugatti was a leading figure in Italy’s design and decorative arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bugatti is perhaps best known for his exotic, handmade furniture designs. Many of the 19th century’s progressive developments, notably the British Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau, influenced his work. Read More →

  • Vittorio Gregotti (1927- 2020 ) Italian architect, designer, design historian

    Vittorio Gregotti (1927- 2020 ) Italian architect, designer, design historian

    Vittorio Gregotti (1927- 2020) was an important Italian architect, designer, design historian, theorist and critic, Gregotti was the editor of several leading Italian design journals. He graduated in architecture from Milan Polytechnic in 1952. He spent his lifetime working in the field as a practitioner, academic, and writer.Read More →

  • Bruno Gecchelin (b.1939) Italian Architect-Designer

    Bruno Gecchelin (b.1939) Italian Architect-Designer

    Beginning his professional career in 1962, he worked for many major firms; designed lighting for O-Luce, furniture for Busnelli and Frau, refrigerators and gas stoves for Indesit, glassware for Venini, items for Skipper and Fratelli Guzzini, 1989 Atelier 75 range of four kitchen utensils, and 1987—88 Shuttle range of track lighting. Read More →

  • Ignazio Gardella (1905 – 1999) Italian Architect-Designer

    Ignazio Gardella (1905 – 1999) Italian Architect-Designer

    Ignazio Gardella began working on architectural projects in Alessandria in 1929, including the Dispensario Antitubercolare (1929-1930), which is regarded as an example of Italian Rationalism, and the Laboratorio Provinciale di Igiene. He was laying the groundwork for his future career as an architect.Read More →

  • Aldo Rossi (1931 – 1997) Italian designer and architect

    Aldo Rossi (1931 – 1997) Italian designer and architect

    Aldo Rossi (1931 – 1997) was an Italian architect. He was born and professionally active in Milan. He is considered by many to be the greatest Italian architect of the second half of the 20th century. His life as an architect began with Gardella and Zanuso. Read More →

  • Mezzadro Chair – a nod to Italian Agriculture

    Mezzadro Chair – a nod to Italian Agriculture

    Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni were not the first twentieth-century designers to consider the tractor seat in relation to sophisticated furniture production: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe used it for the Conchoidal chairs he conceived during the early 1940s. Read More →

  • Lino Sabattani (1925 – 2016) Italian Metal Smith

    Lino Sabattani (1925 – 2016) Italian Metal Smith

    Sabbatini worked as a silversmith from a very early age.  He learned metalworking techniques and became interested in shapes derived from natural materials.  The Boule teapot and example of his early work was designed for T. Wolff in Germany.Read More →

  • Patrizia Ranzo Italian architect and designer

    Patrizia Ranzo Italian architect and designer

    Patrizia Ranzo is an Italian architect and designer. She was born and active in Naples. She studied architecture in Naples to 1981. Read More →

  • Cini Boeri Italian Furniture & Industrial Designer

    Cini Boeri Italian Furniture & Industrial Designer

    She worked as an interior and furniture designer in the studio of Marco Zanuso, Milan, 1952—63. In 1963, she set up her studio, specializing in civil and interior architecture and industrial design. She was associated with ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale). In 1979, she formed Cini Boeri Associati, Milan. Read More →

  • Paolo Venini (1895 – 1959) Italian Glassware Designer

    Paolo Venini (1895 – 1959) Italian Glassware Designer

    Murano glassware was historically decorated with opulent rubies and gold and fanciful forms in vibrant colours. He hired freelance designers like Martinuzzi and Fulvio Bianconi regularly. Gio Ponti from 1927, Carlo Scarpa from 1932, Eugene Berman from 1951, Ken Scott from 1951, Franco Albini from 1954, and Massimo Vignelli from 1956 were the designers he…

  • Massimo Vignelli designer of subway maps to corporate logos

    Massimo Vignelli designer of subway maps to corporate logos

    Massimo Vignelli and his wife Leila, an architect, were considered a husband and wife team credited with introducing restrained, European fashion and taste in America in the 1970s.Read More →

  • Adalberto Dal Lago (b.1937) – Italian Architect and designer

    Adalberto Dal Lago (b.1937) – Italian Architect and designer

    Adalberto Dal Lago is an Italian architect and designer: born and active Milan. He was an assistant, Facolta di Architettura, Politecnico di Milano from 1964-70 and subsequently chair of interior design and then of the elements of composition. He published books on design and Modern architecture. The European Council commissioned him and architect Marco Zanus…

  • Patricia Urquiola is a Spanish architect and designer

    Patricia Urquiola is a Spanish architect and designer

    Patricia Urquiola is a Spanish architect based in Milan. She distinguishes herself by her original designs of items and furniture for the finest and most significant international companies. She created the Maia series, one of her most typical works for Kettal, the designer of some of the most emblematic pieces of today’s selection. AD Design…

  • Piero Polato (b.1936) Italian Industrial Designer

    Piero Polato (b.1936) Italian Industrial Designer

    At ISIA, Urbano, Polato taught metallurgy. He wrote books about design education. Saiet, Avancart, Pellizzari, RAI, Televisione Svizzera Italiana, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Franco Rosso International, Fratelli Coppola, Furla, Mursia Editore, Robots, Zucchi, Il Bustese, and Muncherner Ruck were among his clientele. He was an ADI member (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale).Read More →

  • Italian Design Bibliography

    Italian Design Bibliography

    Read More →

  • Carlo Mollino (1905 – 1973) Italian architect and designer

    Carlo Mollino (1905 – 1973) Italian architect and designer

    Today, Carlo Mollino seems just as important as when he was alive. The designer left his mark on the world of industrial design of the 20th century through one of a kind objects, incorporating new techniques and materials produced rather than batch productions in the form of collector’s items.Read More →

  • Alfredo Simonit (b.1937) – Italian furniture designer

    Alfredo Simonit (b.1937) – Italian furniture designer

    Alfredo Simonit is an Italian designer. He was born in Romans d ‘Isonzo. Professionally active S. Giovanni al Natisone. Read More →

  • Gaetano Pesce (b.1939 ) Italian architect, designer and sculptor

    Gaetano Pesce (b.1939 ) Italian architect, designer and sculptor

    He established an office in Padua, where he became a founding member of Gruppo N in 1959. He experimented with programmed art and collaborated with Gruppo Zero in Germany, Groupe de Recherche d’Art Visuel in Paris (then known as Motus), and Gruppo T in Milan. Read More →

  • Emilio Pucci (1914 – 1992) Italian fashion designer

    Emilio Pucci (1914 – 1992) Italian fashion designer

    A leading figure in Italian fashion in the 1950s and 1960s, Pucci studied for a year at the University of Milan. In 1935 he travelled to the United States where he also studied, returning to the University of FlorenceRead More →

  • Marcello Minale (1938 – 2000) Italian designer

    Marcello Minale (1938 – 2000) Italian designer

    He worked as a designer at the Finnish advertising agency Taucker and as an art director at Mackkinointi Uiherjuuri. He was the design director at the Young and Rubicam advertising agency in London until 1964. He founded a design firm with Brian Tattersfield in 1964. Read More →

  • Giancarlo Pozzi (1924 – ) Italian Industrial Designer

    Giancarlo Pozzi (1924 – ) Italian Industrial Designer

    Pozzi’s professional career began in 1950. He worked with architect Alberto Rosselli from 1963 to 1967. From 1970 to 1974, he collaborated with Achile Castiglioni and the Ponti/Fornaroli/Rosselli Studio.Read More →

  • The Wit and Humour of the Gibigiana Table Lamp

    The Wit and Humour of the Gibigiana Table Lamp

    Castiglioni’s approach to design is characterised by wit and humour, which is portrayed here by a shape that resembles an animal or bird. The Gibigiana is a table light that may be adjusted. It includes a dimmer and produces reflected light. Read More →

  • Centre Pompidou Presents Retrospective on Designer Ettore Sottsass

    Centre Pompidou Presents Retrospective on Designer Ettore Sottsass

    Although he was largely known for founding the design group, Memphis Milano, Sottsass always reverted back to painting to free his senses. This liberation would frequently and characteristically appear in all the work he’d create throughout his life. Lamps, chairs, cabinets — anything that released the senses.Read More →

  • How the Memphis Design Movement Made a Comeback

    How the Memphis Design Movement Made a Comeback

    To call an armchair or a bookcase “revolutionary” might seem like a stretch, but for the design world, the original show of the Memphis design movement was as genuinely shocking as the first Sex Pistols performance. But unlike his revolutionary punk predecessors, Ettore Sottsass, this design moment’s founder, certainly knew the rules he was breaking…

  • ‘The New Domestic Landscape’ – MoMA’s ambitious design show 1972

    ‘The New Domestic Landscape’ – MoMA’s ambitious design show 1972

    THE NEW DOMESTIC LANDSCAPE was one of The Museum of Modern Art’s most ambitious design shows.  The exhibition, directed and built by Emilio Ambasz, Curator of Design in the Museum’s Department of Architecture and Design, focused on current design trends in Italy with 180 items for everyday use and 11 environments commissioned by the Museum.Read More…

  • Flavio Conti Italian architect and designer

    Flavio Conti Italian architect and designer

    Flavio Conti is an Italian architect and designer; born Legnago, Verona; active Milan.  He studiedRead More →

  • Michele Provinciali (1921 – 2009) Italian Industrial Designer

    Michele Provinciali (1921 – 2009) Italian Industrial Designer

    He received the ADI’s Compasso d’Oro Award for his career in 2008. Michele Provinciali provides an alternative trend to the late rationalist approach typical of the postwar period in every art form. He is expressive, poetic, experimental, abnormal, and refined in every art form.Read More →

  • Luigi Massoni (b.1930) Italian Industrial Designer

    Luigi Massoni (b.1930) Italian Industrial Designer

    After a period of training at the Collettivo di Architettura in Milan and his first professional experiences between 1953 and 1955, he began his design career by making the cocktail shaker (1957, with Carlo Mazzeri) and the Serie 5 containers, which are still in production, for AlessiRead More →

  • The evolving designs of Arper | Design ♥︎

    The evolving designs of Arper | Design ♥︎

    Arper is the epitome of minimalist elegance and its products are perfectly suited to all kinds of commercial environments. With a growing range, we take a look at the latest offerings from the classic Italian house. Colour blocking made cool With classic arching armrests and a mix of materials that are perfectly colour matched, the…

  • Luca Erba (b. 1984) Italian Designer & Architect

    Luca Erba (b. 1984) Italian Designer & Architect

    He creates projects spanning architecture to decor, interior design, and bespoke collections using thorough territorial, material, and formal research as the cornerstones of his creative process.Read More →

  • Tacchini stylish and functional Ottomans

    Tacchini stylish and functional Ottomans

    Tacchini aspires to improve the quality of home and public spaces with its furniture. As a result, Tacchini is always analysing and improving its products and services with zeal, inventiveness, and accountability. Read More →

  • Sergio Asti (1926 – 2021) Italian Designer and Architect

    Sergio Asti (1926 – 2021) Italian Designer and Architect

    Asti was born in the city of Milan. In 1956, he founded his design firm after graduating from the Polytechnic University of Milan with a degree in architecture. He was one of the founding members of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale in the same year.Read More →

  • Gae Aulenti (1927 – 2012) Italian architect and designer

    Gae Aulenti (1927 – 2012) Italian architect and designer

    Gaetana Aulenti (Gae, as she was known, is pronounced similarly to “guy”) was born in Palazzolo dello Stella (Friuli) and studied architecture at the Milan School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University, graduating in 1954 as one of two women in a class of 20.Read More →

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