Design between History of the Arts and History of Ideology

Ferdinando Bologna, "Dalle arti minori all’industrial design", 1972

Abstract

The critical relevance of this essay by Ferdinando Bologna is illustrated in reconstructing the particular characteristics of his historical methodology and the cultural and political context within which the work was written. The text is re-read highlighting the value and limits, for us today, of its analysis, in light of the critique to which Bologna’s work was subjected in his own time and later. In conclusion, to properly establish its status as a “classic of design history”, this article reflects upon the relationship between criticism and ideology, and the apparent absence of ideological positions in contemporary design history and criticism.