Enrico Taglietti's Canberra Studio Reconstructed in Exhibition Featuring 1979 Photograph by Ted Richards
The Canberra Museum and Gallery will host the exhibition 'Taglietti: Life in Design' from 7 June 2025 to 3 May 2026, showcasing a 1979 silver gelatin print by Ted Richards depicting architect Enrico Taglietti in his studio. Curator Virginia Rigney highlights the studio's dynamic atmosphere. Born in Milan in 1926, Taglietti studied under renowned figures Pier Luigi Nervi and Bruno Zevi before relocating to Australia in 1955. He is known for designing various structures, including the Canberra Cinema Centre, and was awarded the Gold Medal by the Australian Institute of Architecture in 2007. The photograph captures Taglietti alongside personal items, such as a family portrait and a model from the Wagga Wagga project, which was part of MoMA's 1979 exhibition.
Key facts
- Enrico Taglietti moved from Milan to Canberra in 1956 after arriving in Sydney in 1955 for an Italian design exhibition at David Jones.
- Taglietti designed the Canberra Cinema Centre, embassies for Italy and Pakistan, and the Wagga Wagga Townhouse hotel featured in MoMA's 1979 exhibition.
- Photographer Ted Richards took a silver gelatin print of Taglietti in his Canberra studio in 1979, now in the Canberra Museum and Gallery collection.
- The exhibition 'Taglietti: Life in Design' runs from 7 June 2025 to 3 May 2026 at Canberra Museum and Gallery, reconstructing Taglietti's studio.
- Taglietti was awarded the Australian Institute of Architecture's Gold Medal in 2007.
- Taglietti studied under architects Pier Luigi Nervi and Bruno Zevi in Milan after growing up in Ethiopia.
- Senior curator Virginia Rigney describes Taglietti's studio as a vibrant space blending projects with personal artifacts like a wooden figure from his student days.
- Taglietti believed architecture was art, not just construction, and advocated for Canberra's architectural future based on the 1913 Griffin plan.
Entities
Artists
- Enrico Taglietti
- Ted Richards
- Pier Luigi Nervi
- Bruno Zevi
- Virginia Rigney
- Bronwyn Watson
- Marion Burley Griffin
- Walter Burley Griffin
Institutions
- Canberra Museum and Gallery
- David Jones
- Museum of Modern Art
- Australian Institute of Architecture
- Art Almanac
- Qantas
Locations
- Canberra
- Australia
- Sydney
- Milan
- Italy
- Ethiopia
- New York
- United States
- Pakistan
- Wagga Wagga
- Australian Capital Territory