What do you call a man who was a professor of Architecture at Turin University, photographer, writer, skier, inventor of engines and designer of race cars, acrobatic pilot and mountaineer? Carlo Mollino.
I have to say that I’m not enamored of his exterior architecture designs — there’s way too much Gropius and not enough Athens, never mind art nouveau;
…although not all the time:
His interiors are a little too Scandi and not enough Edwardian:
…although his Teatro Regio in Turin is incredible:
…from the inside; the outside?
…and of his furniture we will not speak.
(Follow the link above for a full exposition of all these, and more.)
But how can you not enjoy his design of something as mundane as a bus?
And then there was his Basiluro race car, which at Le Mans 1955 (yes, that Le Mans race) managed to reach 135mph with a 750cc engine (!) until it was forced off the track into a ditch by a Jaguar:
However, it was Mollino’s photography which first caught my attention (guess why):
And my favorite:
His ultimate expression was this statement:
“Humans matter only insomuch as they contribute to a historic process; outside of history, humans are nothing.”
And Carlo Mollino sure left his mark on the historical process, in so many fields. Che uomo!