Donated 105 works of contemporary art to the City of Venice. An exhibition in the spring

One hundred and five works of contemporary art worth a total of more than 17 million euros have been donated to the City of Venice. This enriches the Gallery of Modern Art at Ca’ Pesaro with a prestigious collection: the works will be visible to the public as part of the museum system managed by the Venice Civic Museums Foundation. The City Council approved the acceptance of the donation of the Gemma De Angelis Testa collection: 105 works of contemporary art including prints, sculptures, silkscreens, paintings, and tapestries, with a total value of 17,317,000 euros, as attested by the third party CPG Art Advisory of Milan. This is the most recent acquisition for the Gallery’s collections and, in terms of the extent and quality of the works, the most important since the de Lisi Usigli bequest in 1961.

The signing of the deed of gift took place this morning at Ca’ Farsetti in the presence of the mayor of Venice, Luigi Brugnaro, and Mrs. Gemma De Angelis Testa, wife of the great Italian creative and advertising artist Armando Testa.

“I am really happy,” said Gemma De Angelis Testa, “to celebrate this donation with the City of Venice, which I thank for making this operation easy thanks also to the precious collaboration of art historians Gabriella Belli and Gianfranco Maraniello. I first visited Venice in 1970 on the occasion of the Biennale of Contemporary Art. This city gave me many emotions, and it was here that I made the most important encounters of my life: with contemporary art and with my husband. In 1980 I bought the first work in my collection (by Cy Twombly), which over the years has been gradually enriched. I hope that other collectors will follow my example and that our country will soon be enriched with many more museums of Contemporary Art.”

“The world walks by examples,” commented Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro in giving Mrs. De Angelis Testa a golden lion. “The gift that is given to the city today will remain for the next generation. The invitation I would like to extend to everyone who has the opportunity is to donate: it is a gesture of generosity that benefits the entire community.”

The collection includes masterpieces by Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly alongside Arte Povera masters Mario Merz, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Pier Paolo Calzolari, and Gilberto Zorio. The journey through the art of the second half of the twentieth century is articulated with seminal works from the production of Anselm Kiefer and iconic works by Gino De Dominicis, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Mario Schifano, and more sculptures by Tony Cragg and Ettore Spalletti. The other half of the avant-garde is well represented in the collection, with visions by Marina Abramovic, Vanessa Beecroft, Candida Hofer, Mariko Mori, Shirin Neshat, among others. The collector’s choices and paths of taste start from the middle of the last century and develop a continuous dialogue with Armando Testa’s production. A precious core of the donation consists of 17 masterpieces of the creative genius, with celebrated works from the 1950s onward, tracing the imaginative universe of Armando Testa. The collection brings together diverse authors ofinternational art, with photographs by Thomas Ruff and Thomas Struth, works by John Currin, Thomas Demand, Anish Kapoor and Marlene Dumas, canvases by David Salle and Julian Schnabel in constant reference to the creations of Tony Oursler, Gabriel Orozco, Kcho. Collecting taste is also expressed in the important presences of Sabrina Mezzaqui, Paola Pivi, Marinella Senatore while the international dimension of the collection is articulated in time and space with works by Kendell Geers, Yang Fudong, Subodh Gupta, Chantal Joffe, Brad Kahlhamer, Lari Pittman. The works span diverse techniques, cultures and geographies, all central to the contemporary, from William Kentridge to Chris Ofili, Adrian Paci to Do-Ho Suh, Chen Zhen to Francesco Vezzoli, Bill Viola and Ai Weiwei, Piotr Uklanski to Trisha Baga.

Announced in the spring, an exhibition at the Ca’ Pesaro Gallery will display all the donated works.

Photo by Didier Descouens

Donated 105 works of contemporary art to the City of Venice. An exhibition in the spring

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.