The Design Museum Receives the Donation of André Ricard's Library
The Museu del Disseny de Barcelona (Institut de Cultura de Barcelona) has received the library of designer André Ricard as a donation. This donation represents an addition of close to 350 books related to design, mainly industrial and graphic, which include international magazines and books of thought that help understand the work of this professional who was one of the pioneers of design in our country.
The documents date from 1901 to 2004, with a predomination of publications from the 1960's and 1970's. While the majority of articles are national, there is also a strong representation of French and English publications of note, among which include some volumes from the 1950's such as, La laideur se vend mal by Raymond Loewy, Industrial Design. A Practical Guide to Product Design and Development by H.L Van Doren and Le Modulor by Le Corbusier.
The donation also includes Introducció al disseny industrial (1963) by Santiago Pey, one of the first publications dedicated to the discipline in our country, and 20th Century Design: USA, a catalogue of an industrial design exhibition that toured eight American museums between 1959 and 1960.
The volumes of essays cover sociology, philosophy and anthropology, disciplines of great interest for Ricard who aimed to understand mankind and its relation to objects.
With this donation, the Documentation Centre of the Museu del Disseny now provides consultations on a specialized collection (design students, professionals and researchers) that includes essential references and some publications, which until now, were difficult to find in libraries around the country.
André Ricard began his professional career in the 1950's and worked for companies such as Antonio Puig, Porcelanas del Bidasoa, BJC, Plásticos Ta-Tay and, institutions such as the International Olympic Committee. At the institutional level it should be noted that he was one of the founders of the ADI/FAD (Associació de Disseny Industrial del Foment de les Arts i el Disseny), member of the ICSID (International Council of Industrial Design) where he became vice president, founding member and president of the ADP (Associació de Dissenyadors Professionals), vice president of the permanent committee at BCD, member of the Comitè Assessor COOB- Barcelona ’92, design consultant of the International Olympic Committee, and founding member and president of Design for the World. His work has been recognized both nationally and internationally, with a number of awards, most notably the first National Award for Design (1987), 11 Delta ADI/FAD awards and 4 Eurostars (award for the best European packaging).