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Italy on Fifth Ave: From the Museum of Modern Art to the Olivetti Showroom

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2017

Jim Carter Open the ORCID record for Jim Carter [Opens in a new window]
Jim Carter*
Affiliation:
Department of Romance Languages & Literatures, University of Michigan, USA
*
*Email: jimrc@umich.edu
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Abstract

The 1952 MoMA exhibition Olivetti: Design in Industry has come to mark the moment when the established art world recognized the cultural legitimacy of mass-produced goods. This article contests such an interpretation by showing how the exhibition was organised and paid for by the Olivetti company. This enables a comparative analysis of the MoMA exhibition with a second New York space, the Olivetti showroom. Located on Fifth Ave, less than a half kilometre from the museum, the Olivetti showroom sold the company’s products to the same American public. The article concludes that the MoMA exhibition and the New York Olivetti showroom must be understood together as a clever case of corporate marketing.

Italian summary

La mostra Olivetti: Design in Industry, allestita nel 1952 al MoMA, è diventata celebre come momento di legittimazione culturale della produzione nel mondo dell’arte. Questo articolo contesta una tale interpretazione, rivelando che la mostra è stata organizzata e pagata dalla stessa azienda Olivetti. Questo consente di analizzare in modo comparato la mostra al MoMA con un altro spazio importante, il negozio Olivetti a New York. Situato nella Fifth Ave, a meno di mezzo kilometro dal museo, il negozio Olivetti vendeva i suoi prodotti direttamente al pubblico americano. L’articolo conclude che la mostra al MoMA e il negozio Olivetti a New York devono essere interpretati insieme come un unico e intelligente caso di marketing aziendale.

Keywords

consumerismcorporate marketingdesignMuseum of Modern Art (New York)Olivetti
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 2018 , pp. 103 - 122
Copyright
© 2017 Association for the Study of Modern Italy 

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