Vittorio Accornero de Testa

He continued to work in this arena until 1981.

In the 1960s, he expanded his work to fashion, designing ties, scarves, and foulards for Gucci, including a famous one made in 1966 for Princess Grace of Monaco.

He obtained work designing sets and costumes for a pair of films in 1936 (under the name Vittorio Accornero), then moved decisively into the theatre, creating sets and costumes for opera, ballet, and plays at La Scala, Teatri Manzoni, Teatri Lirico, and Teatri Olympia in Milan. His work from this point forward was under his full real name, Vittorio Accornero de Testa. He balanced his theatrical work with further children's book illustrations and gallery exhibitions of his work.

He separated from his wife in 1934 and devoted most of his work to illustrating over sixty children's books from the works of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Edgar Allan Poe, and a well-received edition of Perrault's Pinocchio.

He began that year to design covers for American magazines as well, and in 1929, with his first wife Edina Altara, he moved to New York. For a while he succeeded in creating set designs for various theatrical productions, but the Great Depression and his love of Italy led him to return home.

In 1923, he won first prize in the El Hogar di Buenos Aires competition, and in 1925, the Gold Medal of the Parisian International Exhibition of Decorative and Modern Industrial Art.

Italian painter, illustrator, stage scenery designer, and, minimally, art director for films. Born in Casale Monferrato in Italy's Allesandria region on June 18, 1896, he studied at the Istituto d'Istruzione Superiore Leardi there. His studies were interrupted by the First World War, in which he commanded Alpine troops, trained as a pilot, and was decorated for shooting down enemy planes. After the war, he returned to his art career and flourished. Initially working under the pseudonym Ninon, later expanding it to Victor Max Ninon, he became a popular illustrator for such magazines as Giornalino della Domenica and In Penombra.