Giulio Confalonieri. Opere Grafiche

‘Giulio Confalonieri is part of the cultural communication of the contemporary world which in turn forms part of the global history in which we have lived and are living. To look at his work, as if using a strong magnifying glass, is one of the infinite ways of looking at our history’ . With these words Fernand Braudel closes his contribution to this publication, which contains contributions by other major personalities such as Gio Ponti, Gillo Dorfles, Max Bill, Umberto Eco, Mara Campana, Leonardo Sinisgalli and Bruno Alfieri, introducing us to one of the greatest Italian graphic designers of the post-World War II period. Beginning with the biographical notes on Confalonieri, edited by Sinisgalli and Alfieri, and continuing with the critical notes, we are given a portrayal of an author whose work can certainly be included within the sphere of ‘visual poetry’: a sphere in which the verbal element of alphabetical letters gives way to the semantic and philosophical element of metaphor. The second part of the volume features reproductions of some of the works he created for major clients such as Pirelli, Arnoldo Mondadori, Esso, Eni and Franco Maria Ricci himself, with whom he collaborated on the graphic layout of the FMR magazine.