Domenico GNOLI

(Rome 1933 – New York 1970)

Born in Rome in 1933 into a wealthy, cultured family, Gnoli trained himself using the books in his family’s copious library on Italian art. His father Umberto, Superintendent of Fine Arts for Umbria, was an art historian, and educated him from childhood in a study of the masters, as did his grandfather of the same name, Domenico, a friend of Adolfo Venturi, with whom he directed the famous journal Archivio Storico dell’Arte. Equally important was his meeting with Carlo Alberto Petrucci, an engraver and director of the National Chalcography Institute: young Domenico soon decided to devote himself completely to art, in line with his father’s wishes. Later on, he also became involved in the theatre thanks to his mother, covering the roles of set designer, illustrator, and costume designer. His passion for the theatre would prove very important within his artistic production, especially for his drawings which became heavily influenced by his fascination with set designing.

In 1953, he moved to Paris, where he rubbed shoulders with the Paris School. Then, in 1955, he moved to New York. At this point he became more involved in metaphysical painting under the influence of Morandi and Carrà.

In 1957, he exhibited 24 drawings and 17 paintings in London at the Arthur Jeffress Gallery. Back in New York he married the model Luisa Gilardenghi who introduced him to New York’s social life: he met Cecil Beaton and was inspired by his work. His first one-man show in Italy opened in 1958 at the Galleria l’Obelisco in Rome. In addition to painting, he worked as an illustrator, which was his main source of income until the mid-sixties. He produced illustrations for such American magazines as Show Magazine, Fortune, Glamour, Holiday Magazine, Life, Horizon, Playboy and Sports Illustrated, for which he illustrated The Gaudy Games of Rome, a text by the English poet Robert Graves.

The success he achieved as an illustrator led to contacts with the Paul Bianchini Gallery in New York, which in 1959 offered him a one-man show of canvases depicting everyday objects (which would be repeated in 1960 and 1962). The work presented here, Il Gatto e l’Elefante, belongs to these years.In it, Gnoli had fun depicting the two animals in an improbable situation: a cat with a humped back and shaggy hair, agitated and nervous, contrasted with an elephant which, with its relaxed trunk, symbolizes harmony and peace.

Domenico Gnoli authored an important page in the history of Italian art with his paintings between pop art, metaphysics and surrealism. He was able to carve out his own niche in the art of the second half of the 20^th century, with a refined painting aimed at depicting the common and, at times, banal elements that surround us. A path interrupted prematurely by his death in New York at the age of only 37.

In  October 2021, the Fondazione Prada in Milan dedicated a very abundant retrospective to him.