LELIA CAETANI DI SERMONETA
AN ITALIAN PAINTER IN PARIS
From 8thSeptember to 18th October 2016
Vernissage: 7thSeptember, 6:00 p.m.
Galerie Maurizio Nobile 45, rue de Penthièvre – 75008 Paris
Paris, September 2016 – Lelia Caetani di Sermoneta. An Italian painter in Paris is the exhibition hosted at Maurizio Nobile’s gallery (45, rue de Penthièvre – 75008 Paris) from September 8th to October 18th, 2016.The exhibition was planned in partnership with the Carlo Virgilio & C. gallery in Rome, which has revived the works by this talented painter. She was the last descendant of the Dukes of Sermoneta, one of the most ancient and powerful Roman families, which gave birth to Pope Boniface VIII. The spouse of Hubert Howard, Duke of Norfolk, Lelia Caetani was born in Paris, where she lived for a long time; in the French capital, her mother Marguerite founded the literary magazine Commerce (1924-1932) and animated an elite circle of artists, painters, and writers such as Claudel, Aragon, Breton, Ungaretti, Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Paul Valery, TS Eliot. In this cosmopolitan environment, Lelia refined her talent for painting,also as a result of her direct relationship with Balthus and Derain. It is worth mentioning that a Balthus portrait of her is found at the New York Metropolitan.
After nearly seven decades, her works are back in Paris in the exhibition organized by Galleries Maurizio Nobile and Carlo Virgilio & Co., who wished to draw the international collectors’attention to an artist whose paintings enjoyed a great deal of success in France in the early 20th century. A Muse for Derain, she was also appreciated by Vuillard for the innovative, fresh and original approach of her art, which he defined as a “real contribution to the pictorial world of her time.” Moreover, hehosted her first solo exhibit in Paris in 1933, where she stood out for her free style, which is perhaps more French than Italian, as every painting conceals a story that is worth telling. For the Paris Biennale, the two galleries are exhibiting a work by Lelia Caetani in their own stands. At the same time, the Paris showroom of the Maurizio Nobile Gallery will showcase thirty-one paintings with views of Paris, London, New York, Venice and Rome, as well as of Ninfa, one of the most beautiful gardens in the world, located in the family castle in Sermoneta. The exhibition will be accompanied by a scientific catalogue edited by Matteo Lafranconi, a renowned art historian in charge of the cultural activities for the Scuderie del Quirinale and for the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome.
Timetable during the Biennale:
8th to 18thSeptember –Monday to Saturday 11.00 – 19.00
Sunday: 14.00 – 19.00