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Electa grows in art publishing with the acquisition of Abscondita Rosanna Cappelli appointed managing director of Electa S.p.A.

Milan, December 19, 2019 - The publishing house Electa, a historic protagonist on the Italian art and museum scene, is set to grow with the acquisition of Abscondita, the refined Milanese publisher of the writings of artists and art literature.

Electa, founded in 1945 by the insight of the art historian Bernard Berenson, over time has added to its role as publisher, specializing in architecture and the visual arts, activities related to the organization of exhibition events, the management of additional services for museums – including bookshops nationwide – and finally the creation of merchandising lines designed to the finest national and international standards.

Its catalogue, which boasts a continuity unmatched in volumes on art and architecture for scientific accuracy, style and wealth of illustrations, now includes the valuable series of timeless books published by Abscondita in their black covers: previously unpublished and often unavailable texts, they bring together the thoughts and reflections of painters, sculptors and architects accompanied by critical essays of fundamental importance.
These are reference works for art historians, those with inquiring minds and a desire for knowledge, and all who love the classics and literature in general.

For Abscondita, entry into Electa represents an opportunity based on the certainty that the independence, guidelines and spirit of Abscondita will not only be preserved, but will receive a new impulse and impetus.

The acquisition of Abscondita is one of Electa’s innovations for 2020.
75 years since its foundation, the publishing house regains its original name. And on January 1, 2020 Electa S.p.A. will be established, a company headed by Antonio Porro, vice president and managing director of Mondadori Libri.
Rosanna Cappelli takes over as managing director and becomes President of Abscondita.

"The purpose is to reinforce the identity of a distinguished brand that has been active for decades in the visual arts and cultural heritage sector, not only through the catalogues it publishes, with choices that enable readers to discover or rediscover the adventurous worlds of research, literature and the making of art, without neglecting the graphic and typographic experiments of the single books.” So Rosanna Cappelli, managing director of Electa S.p.A.

Download here the relevant Press release.

Download here the 2024 Catalog (pdf, Italian).