Graphic Archives

The m.a.x. museum is pleased to announce the new exhibition GRAPHIC ARCHIVES: Franco Grignani, Lora Lamm, Giovanna Graf, Simonetta Ferrante, Heinz Waibl, Bruno Monguzzi, Orio Galli, Vito Noto, which will be on view from 18 May to 22 September 2024.

The exhibition, curated by Mario Piazza and Nicoletta Ossanna Cavadini, presents a selection of around 300 works stored in the important Chiasso Cultural Centre's graphic archives.

The Archive has been built up over the years thanks to bequests from internationally renowned Swiss and Italian artists and graphic designers, as well as through acquisitions of works of art made by art lovers and philanthropists, and the association Amici del m.a.x. museo.

Franco Grignani, Lora Lamm, Giovanna Graf, Simonetta Ferrante, Heinz Waibl, Bruno Monguzzi, Orio Galli, Vito Noto: these are the eight names of the protagonists chosen for the exhibition, major figures in the world of graphic design. All of them have been the subject of monographic exhibitions in Chiasso and thus entered into the annals of its Cultural Centre; three of them have entrusted it with their entire archives (Heinz Waibl, Orio Galli and Vito Noto) consisting of drawings, sketches, proofs, posters, brochures, prototypes, etc., while others (such as Lora Lamm and Bruno Monguzzi) have instead donated important nuclei representing central themes of their work that have catalysed the international debate on graphic design.

Thanks to the important holdings that have been built up over the years, the Centro Culturale Chiasso has become an attractive centre of attraction on a Swiss and international level for topics related to graphics, design and visual communication. The archives, in their articulation of materials and number of works, bear witness to this also through the importance of the loans made for exhibitions and institutions of renown that have taken place in recent times. With fourteen years of public museum activity (2010-2024), and with its artistic heritage now having become an identity, the m.a.x. museum has also linked its name to this very important characteristic of preserving the works and materials of graphic art, which both strengthens and concretises its mission; moreover, it is unique in the articulated panorama of cantonal institutions.

It is a very significant moment to remind the public, albeit through a selection of works, how much these Archives represent a remarkable page in the history of graphic design, making Chiasso an essential part of the so-called ‘swiss design’ culture in the North-South axis between Zurich and Milan.

The exhibition at the m.a.x. museum is intended to highlight the opening of the CIAG, Centro Internazionale d'Arte e Grafica, located at 10 Via Dante Alighieri, directly opposite the m.a.x. museum, where in the two large, brightly-lit spaces it is possible to consult the materials stored in the archive for study purposes. The CIAG was created in order to make the copious archive material held by the Centro Culturale Chiasso available to the public, so that even in a future perspective the collected works may represent a precious moment of consultation, study and in-depth study for connoisseurs, scholars and students of the university and SUPSI; the beginning of the activity is scheduled for 10 June 2024.