Lévy Gorvy Dayan is hosting “The Adventure of Domenico Gnoli,” the largest American exhibition of the Italian artist's work since 1969. The show features 17 paintings from 1965 to 1969, along with drawings, etchings, notebooks, letters, and ephemera. It highlights Gnoli's meticulous style and everyday subjects.
The exhibition at Lévy Gorvy Dayan showcases the work of Domenico Gnoli, a Roman-born artist who died at age 36 from cancer in 1970. Over his career, Gnoli illustrated for magazines like Sports Illustrated and Life, designed costumes and sets, and painted in a style drawing from Surrealism, Pop art, and Arte Povera. Only 160 to 170 of his mature paintings exist, most in private collections, making loans difficult to secure, according to gallery co-owner Amalia Dayan. She notes, “Gnoli’s collectors are usually very reluctant to let his works go, even as loans,” and describes a “cult of Gnoli” that turns into an obsession for enthusiasts. Dayan previously showed Gnoli's work in 2012 and 2018 at Luxembourg & Dayan (now Luxembourg + Co.). The current show involved collaboration with Gnoli's estate, including the Domenico Gnoli Archives in Majorca, led by his widow Yannick Vu and Ben Jakober, and the Archivio Domenico Gnoli in Rome, led by his sister Mimì Gnoli and Livia Polidoro-Gnoli. Vu emphasizes New York's importance to Gnoli's career, calling his 1969 solo show at Sidney Janis Gallery a “consecration.” Gnoli moved to New York in the late 1950s, befriended Diana Vreeland, and married model Luisa Gilardenghi before divorcing and relocating to Paris in 1962. He wed Vu in 1965 and worked extensively in Majorca, developing a technique mixing local beach sand with vinyl glue and pigments. Featured works include the cherry-red tie knot painting, Il grand letto azzurro (1965), Striped Trousers (1969), Curly Red Hair (1969), and Purple Bust (1969). Artist Anna Weyant praises Gnoli's restraint and ability to charge mundane objects with psychological depth. Dayan highlights themes of presence and absence, especially in bed paintings evoking life's cycles. The show runs through May 23.
