Lugano
Bruno Munari was born on October 24, 1907, in Milan, but he spent his childhood in the Veneto countryside, in Badia Polesine, where his father Enrico ran a hotel. At the age of eighteen, after completing his technical studies, he returned to live in the Lombard capital, where he began working as a graphic designer in the studio of an engineer uncle. At the same time, he started to become acquainted with the Milanese Futurist scene, where he quickly stood out as one of its most promising figures. Beginning in 1927, he took part in several Futurist group exhibitions, including the Peintres Futuristes Italiens show held at Galerie 23 in Paris. Munari was actively involved in the Futurist movement, not only from a purely artistic perspective: he handled the graphic design of various literary and theatrical projects by Marinetti, and between 1931 and 1934, he co-authored several manifestos tied to the movement. One particularly significant manifesto, Dinamismo e Riforma Muscolare, was written in 1928 with Aligi Sassu. It celebrates and encourages a “mechanical, animal, and vegetal world, completely new and original.”
Though still connected to Futurism, Munari gradually moved closer to the abstract movement. He met Lucio Fontana, Osvaldo Licini, and other artists supported by the Galleria del Milione, which became a key source of inspiration for him, along with Constructivism—especially the Bauhaus. His artistic language progressively took shape, as he himself wrote: “Art is continuous research, assimilation of past experiences, addition of new ones…” Munari had a strong desire to break away from the stereotypical notion of style and from rigid artistic categorization.
Between 1930 and 1933, he worked on the creation of the Useless Machines, designed to produce objects free from the static nature of traditional paintings and sculptures: objects made of cardboard, wood, and glass, suspended from steel wires and moved by air currents—free forms. These works of art interacted with what Munari called a “fourth dimension”: time. The Useless Machines embody the principles that would define his entire artistic path: dynamism, the use of humble materials, perpetual change, and chance. The movement of the pieces ensures their constant metamorphosis. In 1933, Munari exhibited the Useless Machines for the first time at the Galleria delle Tre Arti in Milan.
Despite the evolution of his artistic projects, he continued working in graphic design: in 1938 he began working for Mondadori, and the following year he became the art director of the magazine Tempo.
In 1945, he created one of his most significant works: Ora X, a clock later produced in series. Its hands are three transparent colored plates—orange, yellow, and blue—that move and overlap, altering the overall chromatic effect. The piece, which carries an ironic undertone, was described by the artist as: “It is the color of moments / it is the machine of eclipses / it is the time of the relay / it is hour X.”
Following Ora X, which he regarded as his first work of programmed art, a new artistic phase began. This led, in 1948, to the foundation of the MAC (Concrete Art Movement) together with Atanasio Soldati, Gianni Monnet, and Gillo Dorfles.
That same year, Munari began the Negative-Positive painting series: compositions of colored geometric forms arranged in a way that eliminates both background and foreground. Through these fully abstract and reality-detached shapes, the artist played with the viewer’s visual perception—each person’s eye would prioritize a different shape. The first Negative-Positive was shown in 1951 at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in Paris, and the first solo exhibition dedicated to the series took place in 1955 at the Galleria Apollinaire in Milan.
Light also played a central role in Munari’s artistic journey—as a medium of artistic exploration. He began experimenting with light in the 1930s through the photogram technique, which he later abandoned to attempt reproducing light through painting. This ongoing project led to the creation, in the early 1950s, of the Direct Projections and Polarized Light Projections series. Munari presented the Direct Projections, along with his Unreadable Books, at the MoMA in New York in 1955 (in a joint exhibition with Alvin Lustig), and again in 1960 at the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. The peak of his work with light came in the 1960s with the creation of the Polariscopes.
In 1958, inspired by Duchamp, he created the Travel Sculptures, foldable cardboard pieces contained in boxes—hence the name “travel” sculptures. Once again, the artist parodied the static and monumental nature of traditional sculpture, from which he deliberately distanced himself. He openly criticized “State Art,” writing: “And so, in our beloved country, we see the most flat artistic depictions appear, born from the compromise of authoritarian but incompetent juries.” These small cardboard works instead celebrated the idea of lightness and a “portable” connection with culture. The Travel Sculptures were first exhibited in June of the same year at the Galleria Montenapoleone in Milan.
A few years later, in 1963, he created the Original Xerographies, works that, as the name suggests, explore the theme of authenticity and replication—another subject dear to Munari. He was the first artist to use the photocopier as a creative tool.
The 1960s also marked two important milestones in his career: his first retrospective exhibition in 1965 in Tokyo at the Isetan department store, and in 1967, an invitation from Harvard University to deliver fifty lectures on art and visual communication. Some of these “American lessons”—not by Calvino, but by Munari—were collected in the 1968 book Design and Visual Communication.
Among the most prestigious awards Bruno Munari received are the Compasso d’Oro, which he won three times (1954, 1955, 1979), the award from the Japan Design Foundation (1985), and the Spiel Gut award from Ulm (1971, 1973, 1987). In 1989, he was also awarded an honorary degree in architecture from the University of Genoa.
Munari was also deeply inspired by the world of childhood, a theme he explored throughout his career. He published numerous children’s books, especially after the birth of his son Alberto in 1940. In the 1970s, he intensified his work in this area, both in publishing—collaborating with Einaudi and Zanichelli—and in education, organizing workshops for children. One notable event was the 1977 workshop at the Brera Art Gallery in Milan—the first workshop for children ever held in a museum. Once again, Munari challenged convention, breaking down the stereotypes of exclusion between museums and children.
A key date to remember is 1986, when the Municipality of Milan organized a major retrospective at the Palazzo Reale, a crowning moment of his growing national and international success. At the entrance of the exhibition, the Lucini Alphabet was presented to celebrate the 63rd anniversary of the Lucini Graphic Arts Workshop. Another retrospective was dedicated to him in 1995 by the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich: Far vedere l’aria (“Making Air Visible”). The following year, at the age of 89 and still active, Munari gave his final lecture at the Politecnico di Milano. He died in Milan two years later, on September 29, 1998.
