Milan Fair posters

The period 1920–1990 was fundamental for the establishment, growth, and success of what has become Fiera Milano. That importance is marked by the extraordinary range of posters the fair produced. They reflect not only the evolution of advertising, manifested in forms and colours tied to developments in painting, poster art, advertising design, and graphic design, but also developments in the economic, political, and social history of Italy and the city of Milan, which has been home to the fairgrounds since the very first Milan Fair opened on April 12th, 1920.

The fair was a mirror of the Italian dream and collective memory, tied to its home city by what soon became a perpetual bond. The fair itself emerged and grew around Milan’s urban and economic model, shaped by industry, business, and the services sector. Its expansion was driven by continuous progress and in turn it came to serve the nation’s entire industry system in a recognisably Italian way, bringing with it technological innovation and creativity, fresh input for architectural and industrial design, infrastructure and an ever more advanced tertiary sector, new cultural dimensions and social dynamics, and new prospects for trade.

In 1929, the Fair Board engaged for the design of its official poster Piero Todeschini, a Lombard painter from a family of artists, specialised in the production of advertising posters.

As a showcase of national industry, the fair reflected the history of the nation, from the development and growth of the economic and urban fabric to transformations sweeping society. A maker society that has always been distinctively “Italian” in its way—unique in the diversity of its manufacturing know-how, but also in the regularity with which it delivers its unmistakeable Made in Italy style. The Italian dream is seen vividly in these posters, which convey all the bright hope of individual and national betterment. And they remind us of the arduous task facing institutions today of rebuilding that confidence we once had in the world of work and in our creative drive, something young people today still have, but are unable to channel.

Work was the central theme of the posters designed in the 1930s. Here we see how it was interpreted by Giorgio Abkhasi and Nino Nanni.

Curiosity: In 1932, Fiat unveiled at the Milan fairgrounds the “508 Balilla,” the compact car destined to embody the dreams of freedom and mobility of Italians.

In reality, for the people crowding the fairgrounds in those times, the main form of transport was the train. Signalling their arrival in Milan was the new Central Station designed by Ulisse Stacchini.

This historic collection of posters produced by the fair between 1920 and 1990 is an iconographic legacy that the Fondazione Fiera Milano wishes to share with the vaster public, in the common pursuit of culture and as a celebration of the foundation’s historical continuity with the old Fair Board—the Ente Autonomo Fiera Internazionale di Milano, whose growth over the years accompanied and anticipated the changes and transformations of the city of Milan and Italy as a whole. In the hope that the story of Fiera Milano today, will continue to consolidate its importance for society and the local territory.