Summary: "Domenico Gnoli. Drawings for the Theatre. 1951-1955" is an exhibition that presents and explores a specific period in the artistic career of Domenico Gnoli (Rome, 1933 - New York, 1970), one of the most important Italian artists of the last century: the creation of scenery and costume designs for the theatre, produced between 1951 and 1955. The exhibition catalogue, published by Editoriale Umbra for the Marignoli di Montecorona Foundation, edited by Michele Drascek, includes a preface by the eminent Professor Bruno Toscano, and essays by the stylist, scenographer and costume designer Quirino Conti, Michele Drascek and Duccio K. Marignoli. Organised and produced by the Marignoli di Montecorona Foundation, in collaboration with the Domenico Gnoli Archive in Rome and the Comune di Spoleto, under the patronage of the Regione Umbria, on the occasion of the 60th Festival dei Due Mondi, the exhibition "Domenico Gnoli. Drawings for the Theatre. 1951-1955", curated by Michele Drascek and Duccio K. Marignoli, is taking place in the Palazzo Comunale in Spoleto from 1st July to 1st october 2017.

Born in Rome, Domenico Gnoli was the son of the art historian Umberto Gnoli and ceramicist Annie de Garrou. He began drawing as a child and, self taught, subsequently devoted himself to painting. While still very young, he attended the drawing and etching courses taught by C.A. Petrucci, director of the Calcografia Nazionale in Rome. In 1951, he participated in the exhibition Art graphique italien contemporain, at the Galerie Giroux in Brussels; he had his first solo exhibition at the Galleria La Cassapanca in Rome, and he designed the poster for the theatrical version of Colette's Chéri, produced by the Andreina Pagnani company at the Teatro Eliseo in Rome. In 1952, he enrolled on the scenography course at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. At the age of twenty, he was already designing scenery and costumes for Re Cervo by Carlo Gozzi and for The Merchant of Venice for Cesco Baseggio's theatre company at the Schauspielhaus in Zurich. In 1954, he moved to Paris, where he was invited by Jean-Louis Barrault to design the scenography for Jules Supervielle's la Belle au Bois. He was presented in London by Barrault himself, creating there the costumes and scenery for Shakespeare's As You Like It, directed by Robert Helpmann. Despite the success he enjoyed as a scenographer, he decided to abandon the theatre in order to devote himself to painting and drawing. In 1956, he went to live in New York where he took part in the Contemporary Italian Painters exhibition at the Sagittarius Gallery, where he also had a show of paintings and drawings the following year. In 1957, he exhibited paintings and drawings in a one-man show at the Arthur Jeffress Gallery in London, and the following year marked the first solo show of his paintings in Italy, at the Galleria l'Obelisco in Rome. From the mid-1950s, he spent a long period in New York, dedicating himself more intensely to painting while continuing to contribute illustrations to several books published in America and to various magazines, producing reportage that led him to travel widely. He frequented various artists, including his great friend Ben Shahn. He wrote and Illustrated a long fairy tale, Oreste or The Art of Smiling, published by Simon and Shuster in New York and Collins in London. However, increasingly absorbed in his painting, he decided to settle on the island of Mallorca. In 1964, following a one-man show at Gallerie Schoeller in Paris, the gallery owners Jan Kruger in Geneva and Mario Tazzoli in Turin signed him up for several years. Solo exhibitions followed in Turin, Naples and Rome, at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hanover. In 1968, he prepared an exhibition of 40 paintings and five sculptures for the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York. He died in New York on 17 April 1970. Numerous retrospective exhibitions were subsequently organised in various museums and major galleries (Geneva, Brussels, Darmstadt, Rotterdam, Paris, Frankfurt, Rome, Madrid, Venice, Palma de Mallorca, Modena, Prato).

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