An accomplished architect, exhibition designer, furniture maker and magazine editor, Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig helped direct Italy’s rationalist architectural movement until his death near the end of World War II. Wounded twice and captured twice in World War I, Pogatschnig left military service to work as the editor and director of Casabella architecture magazine and went on to design the V Milan Triennale and VI Milan Triennale alongside fellow Italian architect Gio Ponti.
Originally born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now modern-day Croatia, Pogatschnig studied Italian in Trieste before joining the Italian army to serve in the First World War. After that harrowing and traumatic experience, he became a founding member of the first Fascist Party in Parenzo. In 1924, he graduated from Turin Polytechnic with an architecture degree and began designing bridges, pavilions and buildings, including the Gualino office complex, in Turin. Nearing 1928, Pogatschnig began work on pavilions for the Turin International Exhibition.
Pogatschnig’s involvement in the V and VI Milan Triennales stand today as some of his greatest contributions to Italian architecture. He held full control over the design of the latter exhibition, in 1936, which led to the opportunity to design many of the interiors of the Italian Pavilion at the Paris Expo the following year.
Pogatschnig’s reputation as an architect and designer were overshadowed only by his outspoken nature as an editor. By 1942, he openly criticized the Italian regime and left the Fascist Party to join the resistance a year later. These activities led to his capture, imprisonment and escape from Brescia in 1944. Ultimately, Pogatschnig was recaptured, tortured and transferred across prisons to Austria’s Mauthausen concentration camp, where he died on April 22, 1945, less than a month before the end of fighting in Europe.
On 1stDibs, find vintage Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig seating, tables, and case pieces.
Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig Italian Dark Wood Desk for Gino Maggioni, 1940s
By Gino Maggioni, Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in Reggio Emilia, IT
Italian midcentury modern design small writing desk wwith side chest of drawers in dark stained wood and metal designed by Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig for Gino Maggioni, Milan, produ...
Metal
20th Century, Giuseppe Pagano and Gino Maggioni Coffee Table mod. Lamellare
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig, Gino Maggioni
Located in Torino, Piemonte
Giuseppe Pagano was an Italian architect and designer, notable for his involvement in the movement of rationalist architecture in Italy up to the end of the Second World War. He desi...
Wood
$7,021Sale Price|20% Off
Rationalist Desk by Giuseppe Pagano, Italian Design, 1940
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in Milano, IT
This desk, designed by Giuseppe Pagano between 1937 and 1942, is much more than just a piece of furniture-it's a true icon of Italian Rationalist design. Every detail of this piece e...
Metal
Mid-20th Century Spider Folding Coffee Table
Located in London, GB
Mid-20th Century Spider Folding Coffee Table A sculptural example of a mid-20th century folding teak wood and brass glass topped table. Dimensions Height:15inches Width: 24 inches ...
Brass
late 1940s desk by Gio Ponti in walnut wood
By Gio Ponti
Located in Vigevano, PV
late 1940s desk by Gio Ponti in walnut wood and formica top. this desk was made for a house in milan, designed by gio ponti and emilio lancia.
Formica, Walnut
$4,552
H 26.38 in W 25.6 in D 25.6 in
1930s Italian Art Deco Brutalist Rational Bookmatched Burl Walnut Table, Pagano
By Osvaldo Borsani, Gio Ponti, Paolo Buffa, Gino Maggioni, Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in Grand Cayman, KY
A refined Italian Art Deco occasional table, side table or end table. Circa 1930s, it is veneered in richly figured book matched burl walnut. The piece reflects the transition betw...
Hardwood, Walnut, Burl
$10,251 / item
H 29.93 in W 31.5 in D 87.8 in
Modern by Giuseppe Carpanelli Cartesio Writing Desk in Ebony
By Carpanelli
Located in Desio, IT
Writing desk made with a mix of raw materials: wood, leather, stainless steel and glass. Drawers in curved plywood, with a Makassar ebony finishing, equipped with drawers with full-e...
Ebony
$4,482
H 24.02 in Dm 23.63 in
1930s Italian Art Deco Brutalist Rational Bookmatched Burl Walnut Table, Pagano
By Gio Ponti, Paolo Buffa, Osvaldo Borsani, Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig, Gino Maggioni
Located in Grand Cayman, KY
A refined Italian Art Deco occasional table, side table or end table. Circa 1930s, it is veneered in richly figured book matched burl walnut. The piece reflects the transition betw...
Hardwood, Walnut, Burl
Charles Dudouyt 1940s French Carved Wood Partners Desk
By Charles Dudouyt
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Incredible wood partners desk from France, 1940s. Large rectangular top with four thick carved wood legs and ball feet. Two drawers with brass knobs on each side. Original finish sho...
Oak
French Designer, Partners Desk, Oak, France, 1940s
Located in High Point, NC
A large oak desk or partners desk designed and produced in France, c. 1940s. Wear consistent with age and use, including some natural wood cracking and patina buildup. Missing smal...
Oak
Early 20th Century Rustic Hungarian Coffee Table
Located in Round Top, TX
The appeal of this rustic coffee table comes from the thick wood top that originally served as a worktable, all resting firmly on slightly splayed peg legs. The slab of wood that ser...
Wood
$5,734
H 31.11 in W 49.22 in D 24.41 in
Rare Chestnut Wood Writing Desk by Italo Gamberini, Tuscany, Italy, 1940s
By Italo Gamberini
Located in Brescia, Brescia
Elegant and highly refined writing desk designed by Italo Gamberini during the 1940s, an exceptional example of early Italian modernism where architectural rigor meets the warmth and...
Chestnut
Frits Henningsen 1940s Danish Mahogany Desk
By Frits Henningsen
Located in London, England
Frits Henningsen - Mahogany Writing Desk, 1940s Rarely seen design from master cabinetmaker of the early Danish Modern period: Frits Henningsen. Henningsen produced all of his desig...
Mahogany, Oak
$2,691
H 30.71 in W 38.19 in D 22.05 in
1940s Art Deco Midcentury Italian Walnut Burl Glass Writing Desk Table
Located in Carimate, Como
Beautiful Italian Art Deco Mid-Century Modern desk writing table, in wood with elegant refined side legs with decors, curved black glass top and highlighted by the two drawers. The u...
Glass, Wood
$6,787
H 30.32 in W 49.22 in D 27.56 in
Rationalist Desk Made Of Chrome Plated Steel And Stained Wood, Italy, c. 1930
By Cova, Italy 1
Located in Berlin, DE
Rationalist desk attributed to Cova - Milano, c. 1930. The desk is made of chrome plated tubular steel and stained wood. Restored on request, delivery time 10-12 weeks.
Metal, Chrome
Flamed walnut desk with bands and uprights
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in Milano, IT
Giuseppe Pagano (1896-1945) Flamed walnut desk with bands and uprights, a drawer on the front and two large drawers on the sides with shaped wooden handles. One of the major figure...
Walnut
Sold
H 22.05 in W 26.97 in D 18.9 in
1930 Giuseppe Pagano Maggioni Rationalist Design Plywood Bar Cart Trolley
By Gino Maggioni, Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in Brescia, IT
Bar Cart design Giuseppe Pagano prod. Gino Maggioni 1938 Wood Top and Curved Beech Plywood Excellent condition Iconic example of Rationalist Furniture Original good condiction
Plywood, Wood
Giuseppe Pagano Italian Midcentury Art Deco Side Table 40's
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in bari, IT
Deco style coffee table with circular top in walnut briar, attr. Giuseppe Pagano early 40s.
Walnut
Giuseppe Pagano Born Giuseppe Pogatschnig Coffee Table
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in bari, IT
Small table with circular top in walnut Giuseppe Pagano, Italian architect of the rationalist current, early 40s LITERATURES: Irene de Guttry, Maria Paola Maino, The Italian déco furniture...
Walnut
Desk by Giuseppe Pagano in Brass and Wood, 1940s
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in Milano, IT
Imposing desk by Giuseppe Pagano, 1940. Scrivania designed for the Bocconi University in Milan Wood. Execution Maggioni, Varedo, ca. 1940. We notice two types of essences for its rea...
Brass
Italian Rationalism Giuseppe Pagano Coffee Table
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig, Gino Levi-Montalcini
Located in bari, IT
Circular coffee table mid-1940s Italian rationalism a constructive philosophy of 1930s and 1940s in Italy.
Wood
Giuseppe Pagano Italian Midcentury Coffee Table
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in London, GB
An elegant coffee table by Giuseppe Pagano. Italy, circa 1942. Minimalist curved design, formed from layers of plywood. Price is for the coffee table only. Dimensio...
Plywood
Sold
H 31.5 in W 103.94 in D 36.62 in
Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig and Gino Levi-Montalcini Accounting Table circa 1929
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig, Gino Levi-Montalcini
Located in Milan, IT
The immense accounting table designed by Giuseppe Pagano Pogatshnig and Levi-Montalcini, defined according to basic symmetrical criteria, is both a tab...
Wood
Writing Desk by Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig, 1930s-1940s
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in Bresso, Lombardy
Rationalist writing desk designed by Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig made from walnut and curved beech, circa 1930s-1940s. In very good condition.
Beech, Walnut
Giuseppe Pagano 1950s Desk and Chair
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in New York, NY
Desk by Giuseppe Pagano Poschang one of the leading members of the "Rationalist" movement in Italy and editor of the famous magazine "Casabella." Rationalism was the Italian version ...
Boxwood Writing Desk and Chair from the Palazzo Gualino
By Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
Exquisite desk and chair from the Pallazzo Gualino in Turin. The building was completed in 1929 and built by architects Giuseppe Pagano and Gino Levi Montalcini. Beautiful vintage co...
Boxwood, Fir