Montrasio Arte

Montrasio Arte was founded in Monza in 1939 by Piero and Luigi Montrasio, on Carlo Alberto street. The Art Gallery at that time, presented mostly paintings from 19th and 20th century, focusing on the quality of selected important authors. Paintings and works by Giovanni Boldini, Giuseppe De Nittis and Giovanni Fattori; Andrea Appiani and Francesco Hayez; Angelo Morbelli, Mosè Bianchi, Pompeo Mariani and Eugenio Spreafico were exhibited. The gallery keeps nowadays their works in its archives. The 20th century authors mostly exhibited in solo or group exhibitions have been: Giacomo Balla, Anselmo Bucci, Albin Egger Lienz, Arturo Martini, Guido Marussig and Adolfo Wildt. Montrasio Arte moved in De Amicis street in 1963, under the direction of Alberto Montrasio and started a very rich exhibitions season oriented on Contemporary Art. The most important exhibitions to remember are: Renato Birolli, Alfredo Chighine, Roberto Crippa, Lucio Fontana, Fausto Melotti, Ennio Morlotti, Emilio Scanavino, Tancredi; Floriano Bodini, Leonardo Cremonini, Gianfranco Ferroni, Renato Guttuso, Karl Plattner, Antonio Recalcati, Bepi Romagnoni, Giuseppe Zigaina. In 1999 Montrasio Arte returned to Carlo Alberto street, opening a new space, with an exhibition dedicated to a selection of important artists that are still presented by the gallery: Cremonini, Ferroni, Zigaina, Bodini, Perez. In 2001 Montrasio Arte opened a new space in Milan, in Brera street, heart of the city centre, close to the Accademia di Belle Arti, with an exhibition titled Realismi. From 1994 Montrasio Arte is under the direction of Francesca and Ruggero Montrasio. They are the third generation of Montrasio at the gallery direction. Montrasio Arte organizes between 6 and 7 solo exhibitions per year and several group exhibitions in public and private art spaces, with great success both in public attendance and critics’ writing. Since the foundation, Montrasio Arte collaborates with important Museums, national and international Institutions, organizing solo and group exhibitions and lending art works. Among the most recent collaborations we can mention: Leonardo Cremonini (Museo della Permanente, Milano 2002; Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna 2003); Gianfranco Ferroni (Palazzo Leone da Perego, Legnano 2004); Lucio Fontana (Museo Bodini, Varese 2006), Andrea Martinelli (Museo della Permanente, Milano 2005; Fondation Rustin, Anversa 2006; Museo Scheringa, Amsterdam 2006), Guido Marussig (Museo Revoltella, Trieste 2003), Giuseppe Zigaina (Museo della Permanente, Milano 2006); Marino Marini (Museo Bodini, Varese 2008); Graham Sutherland (Museo della Permanente, Milano 2011); Susanna Pozzoli (Fondazione Credito Valtellinese, Sondrio 2011); Graham Sutherland (Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Mamiano 2012); Thanks to Luigi Ghirri & Italian Emerging Photography (Espace du Sauroy, Parigi 2012); Mario Ballocco, Alberto Burri, Giuseppe Capogrossi, Ettore Colla. All’origine della forma (Museo della Permanente, Milano 2013); Luigi Ghirri & Italian Emerging Photography (Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Arezzo 2013); Franco Grignani (Galleria Gruppo Credito Valtellinese, Milano 2014); Bepi Romagnoni (Galleria Gruppo Credito Valtellinese, Milano 2014). The Gallery is also a publishing company (Edizioni MontrasioArte). The catalogue includes more then 120 titles and about 30 publications for Italian and foreign Museums. In 2007 Montrasio Arte created Harlem Studio Fellowship by Montrasio Arte, nonprofit artist in residence program in New York. Retracing the ancient Patron of the Arts Italian tradition, nowadays almost lost. HSF by MA came from the commitment Montrasio Arte has always felt to young generations of artists. HSF by MA, gave the chance to more than 40 artists, coming from all over the world, to live and work in New York for 3 months, getting involved by the most active art centre in the world. At the end of the residency, with the help of the curator Raffaele Bedarida, every artist has to show the work produced. The group shows are a balance of the diverse practice of each author. HSF by MA is a very unique experience, created by a private gallery to promote and diffuse young artists’ works. Most of the artists invited are not represented by Montrasio Arte and have no commercial relation to it. HSF by MA received a great attention by artists, art curators and professors. The residency project and the exhibitions have been widely announced and commented in the press in New York and in Italy. Since the creation of the Milan venue, Montrasio Arte has been producing, exposing and promoting young artists’ works, often exhibiting them close to the Master’s works, underlining in this way the importance of continuity and knowledge in the art practice.