Il Man presents the largest and most exhaustive anthology ever organized on the figure and work of this extraordinary protagonist in the history of graphics in Italy, celebrated and recognized internationally. The story of his journey starts from the end of the 1930s to the 1990s through a corpus of over 130 works, collected according to an interpretation that highlights the modernity of the design to underline the importance and meaning of his choices and the uniqueness of his figure within the panorama of international graphics.
Pintori was an extremely lucid character and aware of the mechanisms and problems connected to the profession of graphic designer in the choice of the compositional, iconographic and symbolic devices used. His competence, his professionalism and his culture, together with his imagination and creativity, shine through in all his works and make us understand his relevance in the practice and aesthetics of contemporary design, from the hypothesis of an original style of enterprise to a way of thinking before composing.
Giovanni Pintori was born in 1912 in Tresnuraghes (Oristano), to parents originally from Nuoro, a town where the family returned in 1918. After having attended the ISIA in Monza, in 1936 he began collaborating with the Olivetti Advertising Technical Office, of which he became responsible for in 1940, linking his name to the rise of the Ivrea company in a very long and successful series of posters, advertising pages, external signs and stands. In 1950 he obtained the first of a long series of awards: the Palme d’Or from the Italian Advertising Federation. In 1952 the MoMA in New York organized the exhibition Olivetti: Design in Industry. In 1953 he joined the AGI (Alliance Graphique Internazionale), which in 1955, during the exhibition at the Louvre in Paris, dedicated an entire room to Pintori’s work for Olivetti. Also in 1955 he was awarded the Certificate of Excellence of Graphic Arts by the AIGA (the Association of American Graphic Designers) and, the following year, the Gold Medal and the First Prize Diploma in Graphic Line and the Fair from Milan. In 1957 he obtained the Grand Prix Diploma at the XI Triennale of Milan and participated in the annual AGI exhibition in London. His images accompany numerous articles on the Olivetti company, his design and communication travel around the world, appearing in newspapers such as Fortune (USA, 1953, 1957), Graphic Design (Japan, 1967), Horizon (USA, 1969) .In 1960 Adriano Olivetti passed away. In 1962 Pintori obtained another prestigious international recognition: the Typographic Excellence Award from the Type Directors Club of New York, followed in 1964 by the Certificate of Merit from the Art Directors Club of New York. In 1966 a large solo exhibition was dedicated to him in Tokyo.
After 1967, having left Olivetti to dedicate himself to freelance work, he collaborated, among others, on projects for Pirelli, Gabbianelli, Ambrosetti and Parchi Liguria. In 1981 he began a collaboration with the transport company Merzario, for which he created the graphics for the annual budgets and advertising pages. After this experience he leaves the profession of graphic designer and dedicates himself completely to painting. Giovanni Pintori died in Milan on 15 November 1999.
Edited by Carlo Branzaglia
