The Trademark in 1953

The need for a new symbol able to make the Italian energy company easily and immediately recognized in every part of the world was the reason for the competition of 1952.

The competition

The competition, advertised for two road placards intended for Supercortemaggiore and Agipgas products, for two trademarks and for the coloring of a gasoline pump, was open to all Italians and offered total prizes of 10 million lire (equal to 5164.57 euro).
The members of the Jury were foremost personages in the world of art and communication, and this emphasizes the importance attached by Eni to the competition.
The competition was a resounding success.
Suffice it to think that more than 4,000 sketches were submitted and that it took 14 meetings of the jury to choose the winner. Then at the conclusive session in September 1952, at Merano, the “Six-Legged Dog‘ was unanimously designated, but an extremely long, almost legendary attribution began as to its author.
The sketch that won the competition had been submitted by Giuseppe Guzzi, who in reality was not the author of it, but its “finisher‘.
And this fact, by no means a secondary one, was at once made known.
Various legends started up. It was rumored that it was by a well-known artist who however did not wish his name to appear. Many names were mentioned,among them that of the famous Leo Longanesi, a leading promoter of artisticand cultural life in those years.
Only after many years, and after his death, did it become known with certainty that the author of the winning sketch was the sculptor Luigi Broggini, one of the main figures on the scene of Italian figurative arts in the decades straddling the second world war.

LUIGI BROGGINI . Luigi Broggini (Varese 1908 – Milan 1983) was a much appreciated sculptor, designer and artist. He participated actively in the “Corrente‘ art movement which started in Milan in the second half of the Nineteen Thirties, and brought together artists, sculptors and others striving for cultural autonomy as opposed to the artistic “levelling down‘ strongly desired by the Ministry of Popular Culture. Guttuso, Sassu, Migneco and Tassinari also belonged to the group.
But the one looked upon as the moving spirit was precisely Luigi Broggini, who organized various exhibitions in Milan for “Corrente‘ which have remained famous not just because of their artistic value, but also for their courageous stand against the regime. Broggini loved graphics, but in this sector he almost always presented his works under pseudonyms, or through those who collaborated with him. Also in the case of the competition for the trademark he preferred to entrust his sketch of the “Six-Legged Dog‘ to Giuseppe Guzzi, a Milanese graphic designer, who collaborated only in producing it.

The members of the Jury are:

MARIO SIRONI , artist (Sassari 1885 – Milan 1961): after starting with a Futurist inspiration, he became an advocate of a return to classicism and a founder of the “Novecento‘ movement, with which he exalted the resumption of Italian pictorial traditions which reached their climax in the 15th century.

GIO PONTI, architect (Milan 1891 – 1979): a convinced supporter of Neoclassicism, who took part in the “Novecento‘ movement. To be recalled among the many buildings designed by him is the “Pirellone‘ in Milan. He was the initiator and for many years the editor of the architectural journal “Domus‘.

ANTONIO BALDINI , writer and literary critic (Rome 1889 – Florence 1962), one of the most representative members of the “Ronda‘.
Among his best works we recall: Michelaccio (1924), Beato tra le Donne (1940) Rugantino (1942) and Melafumo (1950).

MINO MACCARI , writer and designer (Siena 1898 – Rome 1989): he founded and edited “Il Selvaggio‘ Leo Longanese’s “Strapaese‘ review, which for decades dominated the Italian world of satire and culture.

SILVIO NEGRO , journalist (Vicenza 1897 – Rome 1959), chief Rome editor of the “Corriere della Sera‘. He was an attentive chronicler of Vatican life and the biographer of various popes. The profession of “Vaticanist‘ began with him.

The secretary of the jury was  DANTE FERRARI , journalist of “Il Sole‘ (later “Il Sole 24 ore‘) who on various occasions described in his journal the events of this fascinating competition.

Legends:

THE DOG’S HEAD
It is said that the sketch submitted by Guzzi (alias Broggini) at the competition of 1953, depicted the “six-legged dog‘ looking ahead with the flame projected in the same direction.
Only later, considering the figure to be overly aggressive, came the idea to correct the drawing, turning the dog’s head round.
In this way the animal assumed the unnatural – but less fierce - position with which we are familiar.

CLASSIFIED SECOND
According to one story, the first prize in the ’52 competition was assigned by the distinguished jury to another sketch.
The subject was a refinery with flames symbolizing energy issuing from its chimneys.
The “Six-legged Dog‘ was only awarded second prize.
But it was Enrico Mattei himself who wanted this one and not any other symbols for his group, for an “unmistakable gasoline with an unmistakable trademark‘, for which reason “the car driver cannot be wrong‘, as is well explained by the claim made in one of the first advertising campaigns figuring the “Dog‘.