This site uses technical, analytics and third-party cookies.
By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies.

Preferences cookies

Heinz Waibl. The Creative Journey

The Centre de design de l’UQAM, in collaboration with the Cultural Center of Chiasso and the Italian Cultural Institute of Montréal, on the occasion of the Italian design Day design in the world (March 2 2017), present the inauguration of the exhibition:

HEINZ WAIBL. THE CREATIVE JOURNEY

Wednesday February 22 at 6pm
Centre de design de l’UQAM
1440, rue Sanguinet
Montréal

From February 23th until April 9th 2017
OPENING HOURS
Free admission from Tuesday to Sunday, from noon to 6pm

This exhibition focuses on the creative and professional itinerary of Heinz Waibl, an important graphic designer of the “Milan school” in the 1950s and 60s, highlighting his dual journey between Europe and the United States (extending in South Africa).
Among the best known projects include those for Rai, the Rinascente, Atkinsons, Olivetti, Pirelli, Flos – but also the collaboration with Unimark International in Chicago and Johannesburg in the late 1960s, by which Waibl developed the Brand for JCPenney and American Airlines (with Massimo Vignelli). Waibl is not the only Italian to try his luck in America – Massimo Vignelli, Giulio Cittato and Piero Ottinetti passed through Chicago in that era – but in 1971 he decided to go back to Italy, were he gained experience in the field of corporate identity.

The approach of the two Commissioners follows the same logic: Nicoletta Ossanna Cavadini, director of the m.a.x. museum at Chiasso, in Switzerland, Looks back on the beginnings of Waibl in Milan and the subsequent period of his return to Italy, while Alessandro Colizzi, a professor at the École de design de l’Université du Québec à Montréal, examines the US experience of Waibl as his contemporaries.

The exhibition features over 350 Waibl artefacts – posters, sketches, logotype studies, brochures, publications, advertisements, objects, packaging – as well as his correspondence with Max Bill, Max Huber and Georges Vantongerloo. A parallel section presents a selection of US projects by Cittato and Ottinetti. A photographic section provides an overview of Waibl’s life and connections in Milan in the 1950s. Also on display are Max Huber’s projects dedicated to his friend and apprentice Waibl.

  • Organized by: Centre de design de l'UQAM
  • In collaboration with: Centre Culturel de Chiasso - Istituto Italiano di