CASA IOLAS.
CITOFONARE VEZZOLI
Homage to Alexander Iolas

opening dates postponed – to be defined

“I have art and my life is full”
Alexander Iolas

Tommaso Calabro Gallery is pleased to present Casa Iolas. Citofonare Vezzoli (Villa Iolas. Please dial Vezzoli), an exhibition dedicated to the Greek art gallerist Alexander Iolas (1907-1987) and curated by Francesco Vezzoli (1971), with a set-up designed by Filippo Bisagni. The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue with an essay by Luca Massimo Barbero.

Alexander Iolas was one of the most important art dealers of the second half of the twentieth century. One of the first gallerists to create an international network of galleries, he introduced Surrealism to
the United States and gave Andy Warhol his first solo show. Although he had been a friend and loyal supporter of some of the most important artists of his time, Iolas was soon forgotten after his death in 1987. His Athens house, Villa Iolas, was doomed to the same fate, its invaluable art collection being stolen and dispersed.

Drawing on the artists exhibited at Iolas’ galleries and represented in his collection, Casa Iolas. Citofonare Vezzoli will reimagine the now lost rooms of his legendary villa. Through the eyes of Francesco Vezzoli – an artist who has for long investigated the psychological complexities of celebrity – the exhibition will foster the rediscovery of a key-figure in the post-war art world. With this project, Tommaso Calabro continues to shed light on some of the most relevant, yet often partially forgotten, gallerists of the twentieth century. Casa Iolas. Citofonare Vezzoli is the second chapter of an exhibition program inaugurated by the gallery in 2018 with its opening show dedicated to the Italian Carlo Cardazzo (1908-1963).