Galleria d'Arte Maggiore opens Paris space with Gio Ponti show

The Galleria d'Arte Maggiore G.A.M., based in Bologna, has inaugurated a new venue in Paris at 208 Boulevard Saint-Germain in the 7th arrondissement, open since April 24. The inaugural exhibition, curated by gallery owner Alessia Calarota, focuses on Gio Ponti and features ceramics by Fausto Melotti, oils by Giorgio Morandi and Massimo Campigli, and works on paper by Ponti, his daughter Lisa Ponti, and grandson Salvatore Licitra. The show explores Ponti's vision of an Italian-style home, as articulated in Domus in 1928, and realized in Villa Planchart in Caracas (1953–57), which housed works by Morandi, Campigli, and Melotti. Calarota noted the exhibition coincides with other Ponti shows, including one at the Museo della Ceramica in Faenza and a Yves Saint Laurent Paris exhibition revisiting Villa Planchart's plates. The gallery plans about three exhibitions per year at the new space. Ponti's relationships with the three artists were long-standing: he invited Roberto Longhi to write about Morandi in Domus, collaborated closely with Campigli (who painted a fresco at the University of Padua on Ponti's recommendation and designed a villa in Saint-Tropez), and discovered Melotti, bringing him to work at Ginori with ceramics. The gallery is an official sales channel for Melotti and has already sold the works on display.