"On the Road to Tonara" - 1917 - Technique: Collage of Colored Paper
Edina Altara (Sassari, 1898 – Lanusei, 1983) was an Italian painter, illustrator, and ceramist, particularly known in the world of fashion.
She began her artistic career at a young age as a self-taught artist.
From childhood, she displayed exceptional dexterity with paper, creating, starting from 1915, first toys of modern shapes and then refined collages.
When she was just eighteen years old, in 1917, her collage “In the Land of the Fearless Sardinians” was purchased by King Vittorio Emanuele III (it is in the collections of the Quirinal Palace).
In Milan since the 1920s, the young artist quickly established herself as an illustrator with her drawings for numerous children's books.
Starting from the 1930s, she dedicated herself to ceramic production, design, and fashion, opening an atelier in her home in Milan.
Fashion would be at the center of her activity even in the 1940s: from 1941 to 1945, she created fashion sketches for the magazine “Grazia,” while from 1942 she began collaborating with the women's magazine “Bellezza,” directed by Gio Ponti, for which Altara produced illustrations and sketches, marking a vision of poise and elegance.
Between the 1940s and the 1950s, it was indeed Gio Ponti (recognizing the high quality of her artistic creations) who involved her in design and furnishing projects, including on the transatlantic liners Conte Grande, Conte Biancamano, Andrea Doria, Oceania, and Africa...
