BIOGRAPHY

Valerio Adami was born in Bologna on March 17, 1935. In 1944, his family moved to Milan. Some highlights in his educational path were Felice Carena's atelier, meeting Oskar Kokoschka in Venice, and attending the Brera Academy with Achille Funi. In 1958, he began a life of travel that would lead him to live and work in various cities across Europe, the United States, Latin America, Israel, and India, where he formed new friendships. Among his intellectual circle were writer Carlos Fuentes, philosopher Jacques Derrida, and painters Saul Steinberg, Richard Lindner, Matta, Octavio Paz, Italo Calvino, and Luciano Berio. These travels and encounters, which he experienced with his wife Camilla Cantoni Mamiani, whom he married in 1962, profoundly influenced Valerio Adami's culture and artistic vision. His works often addressed themes closely linked to the cultures of the countries he visited. In London, together with his friend Romagnoni, with whom he shared both a studio and a passion for Anglo-Saxon culture—which had been entirely erased in Italy by Fascist rhetoric—he came into contact with the London avant-garde (including Francis Bacon and William Scott), influencing Adami's future work. From then on, he spent summers with Camilla at Villa Cantoni, the large house-falansterio in Arona, which became a meeting place for artists of the time. In 1966, he drew a portrait of Nietzsche, the first in a long series of "literary portraits," where the line followed the path of symbolic thought more than physical features. From 1970, he worked exclusively with the Maeght gallery, founded by the great art dealer Aimé Maeght. In 1971, he moved to New York, where he opened his own studio. From that date, he returned to NY every year for several months. During these years, he met writers, philosophers, and painters, including Dino Buzzati, Helmut Heissenbuttel, Marc Le Bot, and Jacques Derrida, with whom he established strong and lasting relationships that allowed for a continuous and rich exchange of ideas and opinions. Meanwhile, the human figure became increasingly prominent in his painting: no longer just bodies among objects, in interior decor, or public spaces. In 1976, he embarked on his first trip to India with his friend and art critic Hubert Damisch, staying for a long time in Ahmedabad, home of Gandhi's ashram. In 1978, back in New York, Adami began painting a series of mythological-themed works. In 1980, Italo Calvino wrote "Four Fables of Aesop for Valerio Adami." In 1985, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris dedicated an important retrospective to him, which was brought to Palazzo Reale in Milan the following year. These were years of great recognition for Adami's painting. From 1988, the French state commissioned several important works from him, including the panels at Gare d’Austerlitz, and the following year, the large paintings for the foyer of the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Also in 1988, the city of Bologna organized a series of events titled "Adami in Bologna." In 1990, after returning to spend summers on Lake Maggiore, he held a major retrospective at the IVAM-Centro Julio González in Valencia, and the following year, he was honored with a show at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Spain. In 1992, he embarked on a long trip to Mexico, followed by another long trip to India in 1996. Back in Italy in 1997, Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence hosted a large thematic exhibition of his work. In 1998, he created a monumental painting for Monte Paschi di Siena. In 2000, in Meina, the city where the master lives today, the European Foundation of Drawing was established in the restored Villa Faraggiana Museum. In 2003, the San Carlo Theater in Naples commissioned him to design the sets for Richard Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman." That same year, the Frissiras Museum in Athens dedicated a comprehensive retrospective to him. In 2006, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lissone awarded Adami a lifetime achievement prize and hosted a major retrospective titled "Adami after Adami." In 2009, together with his wife Camilla, he inaugurated the retrospective "Camilla ADAMI Valerio" at the Palazzo della Promotrice in Turin. In 2011, the city of Lucca celebrated his work with a triptych of exhibitions dedicated to his drawings, paintings, and watercolors. In 2012, the Tega Gallery in Milan decided to inaugurate its new venue with a vast retrospective of Adami's work titled "Figures in Time," accompanied by an important catalog containing numerous historical essays on the artist. A solo exhibition of works from the artist's personal collection was inaugurated in 2013 at the MAR Art Museum in the city of Ravenna. In October 2014, an exhibition of his work was inaugurated at the ALMUDI in Valencia, Spain. In 2018, the Jean Cocteau Museum in Menton paid tribute to Valerio Adami with the exhibition "Adami: Lines of Life." In 2019, Adami's 1980s works were the focus of an exhibition at the Galerie Templon in Paris. In France, he exhibited together with his wife Camilla at the Espace Jacques Villeglé in Saint Gratien. In 2020, despite the pandemic situation, Galerie Haas hosted a solo exhibition from 1956 to 1969 at its Berlin Location. From February to April 2022, Dep Art Gallery in Milan celebrated Valerio Adami's more than fifty-year career, displaying large-format canvases, watercolors, and mosaics from the 1970s to his most recent works. That same year, Galerie Templon Paris dedicated an exhibition to his latest works. In July 2024, Adami returned with a major retrospective at Palazzo Reale in Milan after 38 years.