Augusto Betti at Fondazione Sozzani: A Celebration of One of the Most Under-the-Radar Creative Minds of the 20th Century.

Installation views of Paradisoterrestre’s Augusto Betti retrospective at Fondazione Sozzani for Milan Design Week 2023. Photo by Nicola Morittu.

At this year’s Miart—the international modern and contemporary art fair in Milan—and Milan Design Week 2023, Paradisoterrestre celebrated the life of artist and designer Augusto Betti with a retrospective curated by Gherardo Tonelli, designed by Elisa Ossino Studio and staged in collaboration with Fondazione Sozzani.

A painter and artist experimenting with new theories and materials, a pupil of Giorgio Morandi and Giovanni Romagnoli at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna—a designer and above all a teacher—this exhibition was dedicated to one of the least known and most surprising creative minds of the 20th century and featured work which are complex and diverse, but always consistent.

For Augusto Betti, art was not an aesthetic but an emotional quest. Not one to put himself on show, on the rare occasions when he decided to participate in exhibitions, his name appeared together with important figures in contemporary art such as Marina Apollonio, Agostino Bonalumi, Enrico Castellani, Gianni Colombo, Dadamaino, Lucio Fontana, Ugo La Pietra, Piero Manzoni, and Elio Marchegiani. His work gained recognition from distinguished critics, including Umbro Apollonio, Giulio Carlo Argan, Palma Bucarelli and Carla Lonzi.

Stepping outside the classical canons, Betti found himself deeply exploring different areas—from energy and psychology to the mysteries of life. The exhibition delved into this forward-looking research projected into the future. Rooted in the historical period in which it was undertaken, Betti’s works feel surprisingly contemporary.

Man Ray's Le Témoin Re-edition by Paradisoterrestre.

Le Témoin by Man Ray is an eye that watches on insistently with an indiscreet presence. Once it’s turned, it transforms into an unexpected seat.

Alongside his artworks, on view were also design pieces now part of the Paradisoterrestre catalogue. Among these, the Noodle armchair (1967), created to explain to Betti’s students the importance of free gestures in the generation of ideas, and the ceramic tea set—a material of choice from his hometown of Faenza—which the designer describes as his “most successful design object”, dating back to 1975.

Presented for the first time were the re-editions of the Prisma armchair and sofa (1971), conceived during lectures to his students, and the Glass coffee table (1967), a smoked glass element whose cubic conformation allows for different compositional variations.

The exhibition also featured archival pieces managed by the designer’s daughter Cristiana Betti, including the very rare artworks from the “cassette” series (1959-1961); the resin and fibreglass sculptures Pulsazioni (1964), Scatola dei sentimenti (1964), Struttura equilibrante (1964), Obelisco (1965), Ballerina (1965), Vibrazioni (1967), Orgonoscopio (1967), Camera con lenti (1969); and also Austere chair and table (1967), Parete luce lamp (1967), Foemina chair (1967), Ciclope chair (1972).

An Icon Revisited: Varier Introduces Ekstrem.

Consisting of a steel frame covered in soft foam and woollen knit upholstery, the piece, designed by Terje Ekstrøm, represents one of Norway's first postmodern designs...

The Prisma armchair and sofa (1971) by Augusto Betti, presented for the first time as re-editions by Paradisoterrestre. Photo by Mattia Tonelli.

Prisma armchair. Photo by Mattia Tonelli.

The Prisma Collection by Augusto Betti, 1971 Archival Photo.

[Images courtesy of Paradisoterrestre. Photography by Nicola Morittu & Mattia Tonelli.]