1905 Building

Masterworks: Italian Design, 1960-1994 was organized by the Denver Art Museum and circulated by The American Federation of Arts as the first major comprehensive survey of contemporary Italian design since The Museum of Modern Art in New York presented The New Domestic Landscape in 1972.

The exhibition surveyed the phenomenon of Italian design as it evolved over the previous four decades. It presented 145 objects representing significant examples of furniture, glass, ceramics, metalwork, and lighting produced in Italy from 1960 to 1994, created by more than 50 internationally renowned designers and more than a dozen emerging artists.

Drawn from the collection of the Denver Art Museum, exhibition curator R. Craig Miller thematically organized the works according to the two prevailing design philosophies of the period: Modernism and Anti-Modernism (also known as “radical” or “post-modernist” design). Showcasing artists who have exerted a major influence on international design, the exhibition included works by such acclaimed masters as Gae Aulenti, Mario Bellini, Achille Castiglioni, Gaetano Pesce, and Ettore Sotsass.

This exhibition was organized by Curator R. Craig Miller at the Denver Art Museum and circulated by The American Federation of Arts.