Communication

Power is nothing without control. Five words written in red below the unmistakable figure of Carl Lewis at the starting blocks, wearing a pair of cherry red stiletto heels. It was 1995, but the message of those five words is still valid today.

Pirelli's communication campaigns have always been about power and control, a concept that over the years has assumed the image of runners like Carl Lewis and Marie-José Pèrec, of the Goddess of Driving Instinct Sharon Stone, of auto racing legends like Fangio and Ascari. 

On other occasions the protagonist has been the tyre itself, that noble black rubber ring with a hole in the middle.

More rarefied, but no less impactful is the advertising for Pirelli cables, a memorable example of which are the elegant geometrical images of Pino Tovaglia, who managed to endow electrical wire and telephone cable with artistic depth.

And then there was "Power is nothing without connections", featuring children united by a sort of umbilical telephone cord, or the unsettling "Third Eye of the Mind".

Colourful, exuberant, varied and versatile are just some of the words that describe the advertising which for more than 100 years has enlivened Pirelli's Technical Accessories lines: from sober transmission belts to outgoing tennis gear, from rubber shoe soles to haut couture raincoats.  

And of course, the famous and beloved "hot water bottles", by now the stuff of cult. 

The masters responsible for the superb visual quality of this history of images are themselves key figures in the history of 20th-century photography and graphic design: from Dudovich to Tovaglia, from Manzi to Noorda to Mulas. 

Always approaching the theme of power and control in an original way, always pushing the concept of mastery over materials.