L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano Young Italians and the arts: Gagosienne Valentina Castellani One doesn't have to be a con- noisseur of contemporary art to be familiar with the name of Larry Gagosian, internationally renowned art dealer, whose pop- ularity and financial power can afford to host museum-quality gallery exhibitions. I n t h e 1 9 7 0 s h e o p e n e d a s m a l l p o s t e r s h o p i n L o s Angeles, just a few blocks from the UCLA, and soon after he started his first gallery in West H o l l y w o o d , s h o w c a s i n g American artists the likes of Chris Burden and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Since then, he added 11 more exhibition spaces to his private collection, located across the globe from Hong Kong to Paris, and in 2004 he entrusted the management of the presti- g i o u s G a g o s i a n G a l l e r y i n Madison Avenue, New York City, to a young Italian director. Valentina Castellani, born in B o s t o n a n d r a i s e d i n T u r i n , Italy, where her father was a politician and former mayor, is a m o n g t h e m o s t i n f l u e n t i a l women in the art world and one of the famed Gagosiennes - as Larry's female collaborators have been nicknamed. After graduating in Greek Archaeology and Art History, on which even the aesthetic ideal of c o n t e m p o r a r y a r t i s b a s e d , Valentina Castellani moved to L o n d o n i n t h e U K w i t h h e r f u t u r e h u s b a n d G i a n l u c a Violante, who currently works as a professor of Economics at THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2015 www.italoamericano.org 4 SILVIA SIMONETTI the New York University. She started her career as a trainee at Sotheby's auction house in the 1990s, organizing and cataloguing the works of art to be sold, and almost by chance discovered an Italian collector interested in selling his high v a l u e p a i n t i n g s b y P i e r o Manzoni, Lucio Fontana, and Andy Warhol. In just a few years, her initia- tive, ambition, and expertise d r e w t h e a t t e n t i o n o f t h e A m e r i c a n a r t m a g n a t e , w h o offered her a job and actually made of Valentina Castellani his "right hand." With Gagosian's blessing, she has curated some of the most acclaimed exhibi- tions of the last decade, featuring big names like Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, and Francis Bacon, as well as the contempo- r a r i e s R u d o l f S t i n g e l a n d Francesco Vezzoli. And yet, rep- resenting the Italian excellence abroad, Valentina Castellani has always saved a special spot in her heart – and in the gallery that she runs – for Italian masters such as Lucio Fontana and Piero Manzoni, whose retrospectives were among her first accom- plishments as an artistic director of the Gagosian NY. Her successful career – as well as her fellow Italians in the arts, like Cecilia Alemani and M a s s i m i l i a n o G i o n i - a l s o reveals a particular attention t o w a r d s c o n t e m p o r a r y a r t . Despite its sometimes cryptic language, in fact, it hasn't suf- fered much from the latest eco- nomic crisis; on the contrary, it has been quite a safe investment for buyers who had the means to seize the opportunity. And both t h e e s t a b l i s h e d a n d t h e n e w emerging markets constantly look at the Gagosian Galleries worldwide as trendsetters in the field, capable of gathering stun- ning masterpieces, combined in u n p r e c e d e n t e d e x h i b i t i o n s . Proudly, behind some of those gorgeous shows is the curiosity and determination of an Italian woman, who loves the U.S. as her new home but also values her Italian education and often returns to Italy to visit her fami- ly as well as the local art trea- sures. Valentina Castellani is among the most influential women in the art world

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