Tornabuoni Arte

Tornabuoni Arte Tornabuoni Arte is an Italian contemporary art gallery founded in 1981 in Florence with later spaces in Rome and Milan. The gallery is known for specializing in modern and contemporary painting and sculpture, representing post-war and contemporary artists active across Europe and the United States. Its exhibitions and catalogues have intersected with institutions such as the Uffizi Gallery, Palazzo Strozzi, and international venues including the Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art, and Centre Pompidou.

History

Founded by Roberto Casamonti in 1981 amid the resurgence of interest in painting associated with the Transavanguardia movement, the gallery quickly became a hub for collectors from Italy, France, Germany, and the United States. Early exhibitions placed the gallery in dialogue with artists connected to Piero Manzoni, Lucio Fontana, Giorgio de Chirico, Alberto Burri, and collectors influenced by figures such as Peggy Guggenheim and Giovanni Agnelli. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s Tornabuoni Arte expanded its programme to include artists linked to Arte Povera, Minimalism, and Pop Art currents, engaging with estates and foundations like the Alexander Calder Foundation, Marcel Duchamp estate, and the Estate of Alberto Burri. In the 2000s the gallery opened additional spaces in Milan and London and collaborated with biennials and fairs including the Venice Biennale, Documenta, Biennale di Venezia, Art Basel, TEFAF, and Frieze Art Fair.

Gallery and Collections

The gallery's exhibition spaces have been sited in historic Florentine palazzi and modernist venues in Milan and Rome, juxtaposing works by artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucio Fontana, Giuseppe Penone, and Anish Kapoor alongside mid-century figures like Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Willem de Kooning, Joan Miró, and Mark Rothko. Tornabuoni Arte has brokered sales and loans to museums including the Guggenheim Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and regional collections such as the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Its curated collections emphasize dialogue between Italian Futurism figures—Umberto Boccioni, Giacomo Balla—and post-war practitioners like Lucio Fontana and Giuseppe Capogrossi.

Artists and Collaborations

Tornabuoni Arte represents and has collaborated with a wide range of artists, estates, and foundations including Lucio Fontana, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Alighiero Boetti, Pino Pascali, Jannis Kounellis, Francesco Clemente, Giulio Paolini, Ed Ruscha, Joseph Kosuth, Jenny Holzer, Cindy Sherman, Brice Marden, Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Marina Abramović, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (historic prints specialists), and contemporary practitioners involved with institutions like the Fondazione Prada. The gallery has also worked with international dealers and curators from the Gagosian Gallery, White Cube, Hauser & Wirth, Pace Gallery, David Zwirner, and museum curators from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Exhibitions and Events

Tornabuoni Arte has staged solo and group exhibitions connected to movements and figures such as Arte Povera, Transavanguardia, Minimalism, and Conceptual Art, mounting shows that referenced or loaned works from the Estate of Alberto Burri, the Alexander Calder Foundation, and archives related to Lucio Fontana and Piero Dorazio. The gallery has participated in major art fairs including Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Basel, TEFAF Maastricht, Frieze London, and collaborated with biennials like Venice Biennale and Istanbul Biennial. Public programs have involved talks and panels with curators from the Tate Modern, scholars connected to Columbia University, Harvard University, Yale University, and collectors from institutions like the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi.

Publications and Catalogues

Tornabuoni Arte issues exhibition catalogues, monographs, and catalogues raisonnés produced in collaboration with scholars, museums, and foundations including the Fondazione Pomodoro, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the British Museum, and curatorial teams from the Museum of Modern Art and the Centre Pompidou. Publications often feature essays by critics and historians affiliated with Cambridge University, Oxford University, Courtauld Institute, Columbia University, and New York University, and include scholarly apparatus comparable to catalogues from the Guggenheim Museum, Tate Modern, and Museum of Contemporary Art. These printed and digital catalogues document exhibitions of artists such as Lucio Fontana, Giuseppe Penone, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Alighiero Boetti, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden, Ed Ruscha, and Cindy Sherman.

Category:Art galleries in Florence