The late 1950s was the modern period of Italian graphic design. The leading Italian design magazine, Linea Grafica, which published in 1945-1985 and 1985-2011, was originally published by Campo Grafico‘s Attilio Rossi, who gave space to the singular accomplishments of postwar Italy. Among them was a surge in abstraction as a sign of the new times. As I note in 100 Classic Graphic Design Journals (Laurence King Publishers), Linea Grafica was rooted in alternative art, where the boundaries between high and low—fine and commercial art, painting and typography—were broken down. Here are a few of those examples from the 1950s when geometric simplicity and optical vivacity reigned.
