Published by FONDAZIONE PRADA. Conceived by Germano Celant. Edited by Mario Mainetti. Foreword by Miuccia Prada, Patrizio Bertelli. Text by Carlo Barbatti, Italo Calvino, Germano Celant, Giulia Lotti, André Pieyre de Mandiargues, Salvatore Settis.
Conceived by Germano Celant as a catalog for the largest exhibition ever organized on Italian painter Domenico Gnoli (1933–70), this publication unveils the cultural background and production of an artist best known for a relatively small number of paintings depicting zoomed-in details of objects, architectural features, bodies and garments—drawn in precise miniatures or painted at grander scales. The volume, designed by Irma Boom, encompasses Gnoli’s work as painter, stage designer and illustrator, and explores his links with the international cultural scene of his time. It includes essays by Germano Celant and Salvatore Settis, texts by André Pieyre de Mandiargues and Italo Calvino, and an illustrated chronology featuring more than 1,000 images, that documents Gnoli’s life and activities—from his early stage and costume design for the Old Vic theater in London to his illustrations for such magazines as Vogue, Horizon and Sports Illustrated.
