Germano Celant curates monumental monograph on gallerist Franco Toselli

A 680-page monograph on Franco Toselli, edited by Germano Celant, has been published by Johan & Levi. The book, titled "+ spazi. Le gallerie Toselli," traces the career of one of Italy's most prescient gallerists, who opened his first gallery in Milan in the 1970s. Toselli, born November 2, 1943, during WWII, to a father from Cuneo and a French mother, began with a show dedicated to Gio Ponti, with graphics by AG Fronzoni. Over decades, he operated multiple spaces in Milan—via Borgonuovo, via Melzo, via de Castilla, via del Carmine, via Pagano—hosting international artists from Arte Povera to Richard Serra, Gordon Matta-Clark, Charlemagne Palestine, Vincenzo Agnetti, and Gino De Dominicis. The volume includes texts, images, data, artist photos, invitations, and books, reflecting Celant's method seen in "Precronistoria 1966-1969." Art critic Angela Madesani describes Toselli as a "poetic gallerist" and a "director" whose industrial, peripheral spaces became sites for 20th-century art. Toselli's own writings reveal a spiritual dimension: "From artists I learned / not to put freedom in a safe / not to fear holes in walls / and administrative notes. The exhibition is an urgent case." The book costs €75 and is available at johanandlevi.com.