Celestino Piatti
Born in 1922.
Died in 2007.
According to the documented descriptions, his graphic distinctiveness is manifested in broad black contours, richly detailed forms and vivid patches of colour, most often applied against a white background, as well as in an abundant poster production—more than 500 works are listed in the notices. A recurring motif in his illustrated work is the owl, which appears repeatedly and is explicitly associated in the sources with wisdom and a love of books.
Trained in Zurich, he completed an apprenticeship as a graphic designer with the Fretz brothers between 1938 and 1942. After active military service, he spent two years in Paris, a period mentioned in the biographical notice consulted. In 1948, he opened his own studio, identified in the dossier as being located in Riehen.
He subsequently settled in Duggingen in 1966 and lived there until his death in 2007.
Around the beginning of the 1960s, he was commissioned to devise the presentation and layout of a new paperback series for the publishing house Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag; the role included responsibility for the covers and the series’ visual identity. Alongside his posters and editorial work, from 1959 onwards he produced nearly thirty sketches intended for the Swiss postal service (PTT). His work in poster design brought him his first international success, notably reflected in the inclusion of his work in the graphic design section of documenta III in Kassel in 1964.
The notices indicate that, among the approximately 500 posters he designed, around thirty received national distinctions; the figure of 30 award-winning posters is explicitly mentioned. A retrospective publication devoted to his work appeared in 1987 under the auspices of the publishing house that had commissioned him, providing an overview attested in the documentation.
Taken as a whole, the dossier presents a professional trajectory centred on poster design, sustained activity for publishing and the postal service, and a long-term establishment in German-speaking Switzerland, where he remained until 2007.
