Lina Bo Bardi at the MAXXI

For the centenary of Lina Bo Bardi’s birth (Rome, 1914 – Sao Paulo, 1992), MAXXI Architettura and Domus pay homage to the great Italian-born Brazilian architect, with an exhibition that narrates the early years of her story, between Milan and Rome.

From when she graduated in Rome in 1939 to her work as a critic in Milan during the war years, her architectural and interior-design projects  for Domus and Lo Stile and her collaboration with Carlo Pagani and Gio Ponti, the Italian story of the great architect Lina Bo Bardi before she moved to Brazil in1946 is all narrated in the “Lina Bo Bardi in Italy” exhibition.

The article published in Domus 152, August 1940

The “Everything I ever wanted was to have History” exhibition curated by Margherita Guccione, director of MAXXI Architettura, with the scientific consultancy of Sarah Catalano and Ernesta Caviola (19 December 2014 – 15 March 2015) has been organised in collaboration with Domus and the Instituto Lina Bo e P.M. Bardi. Original sketches and photographs, videos and contemporary film clips, magazines and archive documents narrate the early years of the Bo Bardi story, travelling backwards through the years, from her graduation in Rome in 1939 to her collaboration, with Carlo Pagani, with Gio Ponti in Milan and on to her arrival in Brazil with her husband Pietro Maria Bardi in 1946.

The article published in Domus 152, August 1940

The December issue of Domus is also republishing a 1947 piece by Lina Bo written from Brazil. Thanks to collaboration with Arper, it is also giving away an anastatic reprint of the first issue of the magazine A, edited by Lina Bo with Carlo Pagani and Bruno Zevi and published by Editoriale Domus in 1946.

The business card by Lina Bo, when she was working in Milan


19 December 2014 – 15 March 2015
Lina Bo Bardi in Italia. “Tutto quello che volevo, era avere Storia”
Curator
: Margherita Guccione
Scientific consultancy:
Sarah Catalano, Ernesta Caviola
General coordination
: Carla Zhara Buda
Research
: Elena Tinacci with Marco Diana, Francesco Maggiore
Production:
MAXXI Architettura
with
Domus, Instituto Lina Bo e P.M. Bardi, Fondazione Portaluppi
Technical sponsors
: Arper S.p.A., The Piranesi Experience
Exhibition design
: Silvia La Pergola
Graphic design
: Etaoin Shrdlu, Stefano Cremisini, Edda Bracchi
Venue
: MAXXI Architettura-Centro Archivi, Rome
From April 2015, the exhibition will be on display at Fondazione Portaluppi, Milano