Between September 2020 and February 2021, Galleria Tommaso Calabro presented the exhibition Casa Iolas. Citofonare Vezzoli, curated by the Italian artist Francesco Vezzoli, which paid homage to the legendary Greek art gallerist Alexander Iolas (1907-1987). The exhibition reimagined the lost rooms of Iolas’ Athens villa, which housed his immense collection of ancient, modern and contemporary art, and was sadly deserted after his death in 1987.
Alexander Iolas was a pivotal figure in the history of art and the art market between the 1940s and 1980s, because of his career as a gallerist and a promoter of artists across the US and Europe (with galleries in New York, Geneva, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Rome and Athens). Throughout his career, he collaborated and passionately supported artists from different trends and styles, including the Surrealists and the Nouveau Réalistes. The exhibition at our gallery shed light on Iolas’ visionary contribution to the arts, while raising awareness on the tragic history of his collection.
On the occasion of our participation at Frieze Masters 2022, we are pleased to present a new fragment of Casa Iolas to an international audience. Works by artists whom Iolas supported and collected will be presented in a room-like installation, reevoking the now-lost eclecticism of his house. Original furniture owned by Iolas will be included to enhance the feeling to be at home with him, among artworks that were once in his own collection.
