Ritratti/Portraits

Ritratti/Portraits is an exhibition that explores the human portrait as both document and interpretation, offering an original way of reading the materials that are kept in the University archives—and not only. From Gio Ponti’s quick, playful sketches to the measured lines of Liliana Grassi, to the introspective photographs of Elsa Haertter, up to the contemporary portraits, the exhibition brings together diverse materials to form a mosaic of personalities and visions. Drawings, caricatures and images reveal a different way of understanding designers and artists, not only through their works but also by observing how they chose to represent themselves, or to be represented.
Through a variety of techniques and visual languages, ranging from loose sketches to carefully composed photography, the exhibition expands the levels of reading, creating a dialogue between different materials: from the document to its interpretation, from the private sphere to collective memory, from past to present times. The portraits convey what official sources often leave unsaid: human characters, tensions, ambitions and fragilities.
Organised into thematic sections, the exhibition becomes a journey of discovery that displays the vitality and richness of the archives, offering a different entry point into the human dimension of design and creative work.
The exhibition is open to the public until October 16, Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

It is also possible to take part in the guided tour on May 21, 2026 at 17:00.

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Curated by
Roberto Dulio
and Archivi Storici e Attività Museali, Politecnico di Milano
Chiara Pesenti, Ludovica Cappelletti, Anna Colella, Vincenzo Ficco, Silvia Raucci

Exhibit Design
Lola Ottolini 
and Matteo Andreoletti and Lucia Emma Avolio

Visual Design
Stefano Mandato