Edina Altara: Gio Ponti's Right Hand in Design and Illustration

Edina Altara (1898-1983), a self-taught Sardinian artist, began her career in 1917 when King Vittorio Emanuele III purchased her collage "Nella terra degli intrepidi sardi" (1916) at an exhibition in Turin. She later married illustrator Vittorio Accornero de Testa, with whom she collaborated under the pseudonym Edina e Max Ninon. After separating in 1934, she opened an atelier in Milan and worked for magazines Grazia and Bellezza, the latter directed by Gio Ponti. From 1946, she became Ponti's close collaborator in design, contributing to the interiors of five Italian transatlantic liners, including the Andrea Doria and Conte Grande, for which they painted the glass panel "Allegoria del viaggiare" (1950). Altara also designed ceramics produced by Margelli in Sassari and Manifatture Ceramiche Faentine in Faenza. Her style blended Liberty curves, Deco geometry, Sardinian traditions, and references to Massimo Campigli. Her works are held at the Quirinale and the Man di Nuoro, where a major exhibition dedicated to her and Accornero opens July 10. Journalist Federico Spano, her great-nephew, manages her archive.