120 pp. - colour ill. - softbound - printed 2014
Italian text

ADVERTISING IS WOMAN
Images from Attilio Montorsi Collections
Exhibition Catalogue

Surprising are the specimen of great quality and the richness of topics of the present collection of postcards, shown in this exhibition catalogue and coming from Attilio Montorsi Collections, like those published in the previous catalogue " The Female Figure in the Art of Communication". A tale goes by through them accompanying the history of women of the XX century in the evolution of habits and advertising. The leimotif is constituted by the beautiful advertising of the beautiful bourgeoisie: dominating are in fact beautiful women, haute couture and good taste, further to young girls that suggest the use of diverse food products, also passing from cosmetics to medicines and alcohol, from heaters to sewing machines. Some images of the postcards proposed remind of cancan moves, other ones seduce with refined attitudes, other more exalt open space life. Starting from a fast exploring digression, you can notice how most of the postcards exhibited refer to a post-war Italy, finally with a smile on its lips that confidently dishes out its products, certain of their diffusion and trade success in the internal and foreign markets: bicycles, scooters and high-performance motorbikes, automobiles. In the first part of the images shown a Modern Style trace is clearly visible, in other figures a veiled recall to Futurism is discovered, above all in those images with a precise reference to vehicles but also to ice-skaters and to dancers. A more concrete and realistic atmosphere is then to be found, as it appears in the postcards of the "Signorine grandi firme" by Boccasile. The descriptions in support of the images are useful as usual.

120 pp. - colour ill. - softbound - printed 2013
Italian text

THE FEMALE FIGURE IN THE ART OF COMMUNICATION
Images from Attilio Montorsi Collections
Exhibition Catalogue

The exhibition, which the present catalogue has been drawn from, is a selection of over one hundred postcards, coming from Attilio Montorsi Collections, showing how the female figure has been expressed and proposed in the informational and advertising communication from the end of the XIX century to the Forties of last century. Some of the images allow to go over the history and the work of famous illustrators and graphic designers of those times, both Italian and foreign. They can give us a quite precise and exhaustive idea of the female presence and evolution in the field of trade promotion for a product or a public event/exhibition joint to a precise city or village place. It is evident how, from a simple and restful atmosphere, the passage takes place in the Thirties to determined political and propagandist edicts that sing the praises of race and certain victory, through work, savings and sword as defence to Fatherland and woman, seen exclusively as mother. There are in fact postcards where the advertised products are at the service of beautiful ladies; followed by the depiction of beauty and Spring; then we find the use of culture and the celebration of work: industry and agriculture show themselves as the base for a prosperous and safe future. Other postcards remind us of the turmoil of popular glorification in the period of Fascism: certain victory in the war affairs, glorious future of the social and economic enterprises. There are also postcards that sponsor the exhibitions devoted to various fields. The catalogue is enriched with pieces and comments of critics and lovers.