Modern Living: Giò Ponti and the 20th-Century Aesthetics of Design

“Modern Living: Giò Ponti and the 20th-Century Aesthetics of Design” opens this Saturday, June 10, and will be on view through Sunday, September 17th. The exhibition focuses on furniture and decorative objects by Giò Ponti, an Italian designer and architect, whose iconic career spanned almost 60 years. The Georgia Museum of Art has also published an accompanying full-color catalogue written by curator Perri Lee Roberts, available now at the Museum Shop.

Giò Ponti, chest of drawers, ca. 1955

Ponti’s work combines traditional and modern techniques and materials, a rarity in Italian design at the time. He promoted new concepts of modern living and influenced the public’s ideals on design by exposing them to works from the United States and Europe as well as his own works. Ponti aimed to modernize the Italian manufacturing process and promote the artistic design of industrial products. This artistic design can be found in a plethora of Ponti’s creations, from ceramics, to glassware, and even a coffee pot he designed.

Giò Ponti and Piero Fornasetti, Madrepore table and four armchairs, ca. 1950

Ponti’s attention to detail and design can be seen in his and Piero Fornasetti’s design  known as the Madrepore dining suite. The “dining suite” consists of four beautifully crafted chairs and a large, bowl-shaped table. The entire set is a captivating robin egg blue; the table is made of a lithograph transfer-print and lacquered wood, brass, glass and silk. The lithograph print is of stony coral (madrepore in Italian) and covers the top, sides and legs of the table. The top of the table mimics a tide pool with its concave base covered by a piece of glass, as if while sitting at the table, you were given a secret glimpse of a tide pool full of the fauna of the ocean. This attention to detail is what makes Ponti’s work so intriguing and influential.

Exhibition catalogue available
now at the Museum Shop.

“The most resistant element is not wood, is not stone, is not steel, is not glass. The most resistant element in building is art. Let’s make something very beautiful.”

Ponti’s influence is still prevalent today. In Milan, his Pirelli skyscraper stands tall among classical and modern structures. His Via Dezza chair, created for his own home, is still produced by Molteni & C, an Italian furniture company. Retailers are mass-producing silverware sets with his design. The combination of art and design is what makes Ponti’s works so relevant. Ponti said, “The most resistant element is not wood, is not stone, is not steel, is not glass. The most resistant element in building is art. Let’s make something very beautiful.” Ponti’s works are timeless and elegant, sleek and practical; they combine the beauty of art with the stability of architecture and furniture. It’s no wonder Giò Ponti is known as the father of modern Italian design.

Stephanie Motter
Communications Intern