Nuorese Cultural DistrictGiovanni Pintori (b. 14 July 1912, Tresnuraghes–d. 15 November 1999, Milan) was an Italian painter and designer.
Giovanni Pintori
Description
When he was just fourteen years old, he began to frequent the studio of the photographer Piero Pirari and then that of the painter Giovanni Ciusa Romagna.
In 1930, he won a scholarship that allowed him to attend the ISIA, a forward-thinking art school in Monza, near Milan. There, he met fellow Sardinians Salvatore Fancello from Dorgali, who was enrolled in the pottery department, and Costantino Nivola from Orani, who was also interested in graphic design, and was guided by well-known masters like Edoardo Persico, Marcello Nizzoli, Xanti Schawinsky and Giuseppe Pagano (editor of Casabella), key figures of the rationalist culture of the time.
Immediately after graduating, he worked at Olivetti (in Ivrea, near Turin) — one of the most important and modern industrial companies of the time and founded by Adriano Olivetti — making posters and advertisements that stood out for an innovative use of colour and handling of type. His work has been displayed in major international exhibitions. He is considered a pioneer and was a source of inspiration for later graphic designers.
In 1952, when MoMA, New York organised an exhibition on design in industry (the first of its kind), Pintori was one of the main featured artists. He was also given prominence at the Louvre, Paris in 1955, with an entire room devoted to his production and, eleven years later, in Tokyo, where a solo exhibition was devoted to his work.
His influence on the field of design was significant in both Italy and abroad. His creative approach and attention to innovation contributed to redefining the standards of graphic design and advertising.
Giovanni Pintori is considered a major figure in the history of Italian design and his work is still studied and appreciated today.
A large selection of works by Pintori, donated by his heirs, is in the permanent collection of MAN.