The monograph dedicated to Italian artist, editor, critic and writer Lisa Ponti.
This publication tells the story of a figure who remained unexplored at great length. Through a wide selection of drawings and writings, along with her conversations with artists, gallery owners and designers – published over the course of half a century in the magazines Domus and Stile – a personality constantly involved with the leading names of the Italian art scene is explored. For Ponti, drawing represents an intimate dimension, one in which to carve out a space for herself. Her writings, on the other hand, highlight a personal view of the world, tracing Lisa Ponti's path throughout the history of twentieth-century culture, both Italian and international.
Published with MACRO – Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma on the occasion of the exhibition Il disegno di una mostra, the volume also features a 2012 conversation between Lisa Ponti and Luca Lo Pinto, curator of the exhibition and editor of the volume, as well as an extended biography by Fabio Marino and an introductory text by Salvatore Licitra. An extended bibliography also documents Lisa Ponti's intense publishing activity.
Lisa Ponti (1922-2019) was an Italian artist, editor, critic and writer. She spanned a number of moments of twentieth century culture, collaborating with artists of various generations, from Giorgio De Chirico to Enrico Castellani through Vincenzo Agnetti and Luigi Ontani. After obtaining a degree in philosophy, she went on to collaborate with her father Gio Ponti in various fields, such as in the application of frescoes at Palazzo del Bo in Padua, as a member of the editorial staff of the magazine Stile (1941-1946); as editor-in-chief at Domus (1940-1979), editing the pages specifically dedicated to art right up until 1986. In the 1940s, she published the book of poems Gio Ponti agli amici (1941) and the book of fairy tales illustrated by Ettore Calvelli L'armadio magico (1946).
