A buoyantly playful table lamp by Angelo Lelii for Arredoluce c. 1955, with marble base, brass “stems” and multi-color tinted Plexiglass “petals,” each of which cups a light bulb. Photo: Josh Gaddy




“Radiant Italy” Shines 
a Light on Postwar 
Italian Lighting Design 
at Donzella



By Benjamin Genocchio  



There is no denying the brilliance of Italian 20th-century lighting, specifically from the postwar period which set a new and widely imitated standard for interior lighting internationally. The design market was somewhat slow to catch up, but signature historical examples today have begun to fetch stellar prices at auction: in May 2022, in London at Phillips auction house, an Angelo Lelii floor lamp for Arredoluce circa 1953 sold for just under $200,000, a record for the artist. 



Adjustable floor lamp by Angelo Lelii for Arredoluce, Italy, c. 1950. Painted metal, brass, marble base.  Photo: Josh Gaddy



Paul Donzella has a lifelong passion for mid-century Italian art and design and has assembled an astonishing selection of important postwar Italian lights for a new exhibition titled “Radiant Italy.” It is a magnificent show, not just in terms of the quality and variety of the more than two dozen pieces assembled but also the simple fact that all of these rare and exquisite lamps are viewable in one place. It took years of dedicated work to pull together the material, painstakingly sourced internationally. 




Left:   Pair of Model #12664 “Finestra” wall fixtures, Gio Ponti for Arredoluce, c. 1965. Painted metal and brass. Right: Wall lights by Max Ingrand for Fontana Arte, c. 1960. A variant of model 1799A, from a private collection, Milan, Italy. Brass and frosted glass. Photo: Josh Gaddy



“I’ve been dreaming of this exhibition for more than 25 years,” Donzella says. “From the start of my hunting and collecting days, postwar Italian lighting has probably held the biggest attraction for me — of all the sub-genres that can fit under the umbrella of mid-century design, this has been the apex for me. It’s taken years for me to amass a collection like this. Every time I thought I had what it took to call it an exhibition, another amazing light came my way, forcing me to further push back the start date.”


On display are designs by eight architects and designers who helped shape 20th-century lighting: Angelo Lelii, Max Ingrand, Gino Sarfatti, Pietro Chiesa, Gio Ponti, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Vittoriano Viganò, and Ignazio Gardella. The material in the show dates from the late 1940s through the 1960s, a period that is generally regarded as the most dynamic for modern Italian design innovation. The exhibition is by no means exhaustive or comprehensive but contains some real lighting gems. 



“Televisione” floor lamp, Angelo Lelii for Arredoluce, c. 1956, Italy. Shade in pink lacquered aluminum, structure in painted metal. The brass rod acts as a counterweight, allowing the user to direct the light as preferred. Photo: Josh Gaddy



1950 was 73 years ago and it seems impossible that some of these lamps can look and feel so contemporary. Take a look at the “Televisione” floor lamp by Angelo Lelii for Arredoluce from circa 1956 with a pink metal shade, sliced off at the bottom to give it a hard edge, with a thick short brass handle and three-pronged stand. The 1980s designs of Ettore Sottsass and the Memphis Design Group come to mind, but the purity of the lines and simple forms have no doubt inspired countless other designers.


“One of the reasons to look at these lights today is that they remain reference points in modern lighting,” says Donzella. In addition to the designs themselves, he points to how Italian lighting designers combined new and traditional materials in the designs, such as acrylics, metals, crystal, and blown glass, ingredients that are a staple today for much contemporary lighting design. “The materials were combined in unique ways to create lighting that beautifully melded form and function,” Donzella says, “and in the process they created designs that have proven to be timeless.” 


So where did the inspiration come from? Several designers looked to contemporary art and artists of the period for inspiration — for Lelii, Ponti, and Sarfatti in particular, art was an inspiration for their designs. Many of the designs exude an architectural quality, while others tap into earlier roots with the use of materials such as marble and frosted glass common in the late Deco era. Looking at the lights in this exhibition, however, suggests no single source of inspiration predominated and that the designers were looking in many directions.



Ceiling fixture by Max Ingrand for Fontana Arte, Milan, Italy, c. 1956. Brass frame with frosted glass dome and carved glass “icicles” radiating around the circumference. Photo: Josh Gaddy



Ingrand, for example, was inspired as much by the advances and innovation in glassmaking in Italy as by the grand ecclesiastical stained glass windows of Europe, while others were influenced by nature, hence the many references to flowers and plants to be found in the lighting designs on display here, including a table lamp by Angelo Lelii for Arredoluce circa 1955 made of marble, brass, and colored plexiglass, a playful design that looks like a bouquet of flowers. 



Model #1049 Floor Lamp by Vittoriano Vigano and Gino Sarfatti for Arteluce, Italy c. 1951. Round marble base with movable brass arms, swiveling lampshades in black and white lacquered aluminum. Photo: Josh Gaddy



Lelii lamps are the core of the show with around 11 pieces by the artist on display — that is a lot of Lelii lamps, for any show. “He is one of the superstars of the period that in my view has never really gotten his due, until recently, especially in the secondary design market,” Donzella says. The same could be said for Vigano, who collaborated with Sarfatti on the Model #1049 Floor Lamp for Arteluce, circa 1951 made of brass, marble, and painted metal. This is a classic among classic lamps, a work that stands out for its purity of line, simplicity and minimalism. Metal shades, one in black and one in white, further enhance this elegant sculptural expression of balance and contrast.





RADIANT ITALY – Important Postwar Lighting


Opening Reception: October 12, 5 – 8pm

Exhibition: October 12 – November 17, 2023


Donzella Project Space, 200 Lexington Avenue, No. 1509, New York, NY 10016


212 965 8919 / info@donzella.com / donzella.com / ig: @donzella_ltd