“Enrico Donati: Surrealist Paintings from the 1940s” at the Washburn Gallery is the first major exhibition of the artist’s work in New York in over two decades. Twelve paintings from 1942-1947 will be on view in person in the gallery and online from April 8 to July 30, 2021.
Born in Milano, Italy in 1909, Enrico Donati is largely remembered as a Surrealist painter despite his brief affiliation with the movement. Donati spent most of the 1930s in Paris, but it was in New York where he was brought into the fold of the Surrealist circle. Marcel Duchamp, Andre Breton, and Yves Tanguy – to name only a few – were among the distinguished artists who also fled to New York from Europe with the threat of war and Nazism. After taking refuge in New York from Paris in 1940, Enrico Donati’s first solo show, held in 1943 at the New School, led to the artist’s connection to Surrealism when his work captured the attention of Andre Breton. In the 1944 preface to the catalogue for Enrico Donati’s exhibition at the Passedoit Gallery, Breton positions the artist’s work as the linchpin between abstraction and figuration, thus healing a fracture in the Surrealist movement.
The Washburn Gallery would like to take this opportunity to thank Kathleen Hill and The Estate of Enrico Donati, as well as Roland Weinstein and Kendy Genovese of the Weinstein Gallery in San Francisco for their generous cooperation.
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ENRICO DONATI (1909-2008)
Born: February 19, 1909, Milan, Italy
Died: April 25, 2008, Manhattan, New York, NY
EDUCATION
1929 University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
1936 Academie Julian on the Rue de Berri, Paris, France
1940 The New School for Social Research, New York, NY
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1942 Passedoit Gallery, New York, NY
1943 New School for Social Research, New York, NY
1944 The Arts Club of Chicago, IL
G. Place Gallery, Washington, DC
Passedoit Gallery, New York, NY
1945 Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, NY
1946 Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, NY
1947 Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, NY
Galerie Drouant-David, Paris, France
Gallery Studio, Chicago, IL
Krouse College, Syracuse University, NY
1949 Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York, NY
A. Weil, Paris, France
1950 Galleria Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, Italy
Galleria del Milione, Milan, Italy
Paul Rosenberg Gallery, New York, NY
Galleria dell'Obelisco, Rome, Italy
1952 Alexandre Iolas Gallery, New York, NY
Galleria d’arte del Cavallino, Venice, Italy
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy
1953 Galleria d’arte del Cavallino, Venice, Italy
1954 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY
1955 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY
1956 Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Italy
1957 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY
1958 Lowe Art Gallery, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
1959 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY
1960 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York, NY
1961 Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium
1962 Neue Galerie im Kunstlerhaus, Munich, Germany
Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
1963 Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
1964 J.L. Hudson Gallery, Detroit, MI
Hayden Gallery, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
1965 Obelisk Gallery, Washington, DC
1966 Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
J.L. Hudson Gallery, Detroit, MI
1968 Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
1970 Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
1972 Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
1974 Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
1976 Staempfli Gallery, New York, NY
1977 Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, MN
1977 The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA
Fairweather Hardin Gallery, Chicago, IL
Tennessee Fine Arts Center, Nashville, TN
1978 Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, IA
Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN
Wildenstein Art Center, Houston, TX
1979 Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Norton Gallery of Art, West Palm Beach, FL
Osuna Gallery, Washington, DC
The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
1980 Palm Springs Desert Museum, CA
International Art Fair, Grand Palais, FIAC, Paris, France
1982 Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1984 Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York, NY
1985 Georges Fall, Paris, France
1986 Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York, NY
Louis Newman Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
1987 Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York, NY
Zabriskie Gallery, New York, NY
1989 Galerie Zabriskie, Paris, France
Louis Newman Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
1990 Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, FL
1991 Louis Newman Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
1992 Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, FL
1994 Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Louis Newman Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA
1995 Horwitch Newman Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, NY
1996 Horwitch Newman Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
1997 Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, NY
2004 Galerie Les Yeux Fertiles, Paris, France
2005 Galerie Les Yeux Fertiles, Paris, France
2006 Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco, CA
De Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
2010 Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014 Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016 Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2020 LewAllen Galleries, Santa Fe, NM
2021 Washburn Gallery, New York, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1946 Bignou Gallery, New York, NY
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Herron Museum of Art, Indianapolis, ID
1947 Pennsylvania Art Academy, Philadelphia, PA
Passedoit Gallery, New York, NY
Toledo Museum of Art
Bignou Gallery, New York, NY
Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC
Carnegie International, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Exposition Surrealist, Prague, Czechoslavakia
1949 University of Illinois, Peoria, IL
1950 Biennale, Venice, Italy
University of Illinois, Peoria, IL
Carnegie International, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
1951 Carnegie International, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Third Tokyo Annual, Tokyo, Japan
Ninth Street Annual, New York, NY
University of Illinois, Peoria, IL
1952 Saarbrücken, Germany
Architectural Figurativa, Milan, Italy
Carnegie International, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, Italy
Artists Spaziale, Trieste, Italy
Premio Gianni, Milan, Italy
1953 University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Biennale, São Paulo, Brazil
University of Illinois, Peoria, IL
1953-54 Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
1954 University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
Carnegie International, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL
Whitney Annual Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1954-55 Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
1955 Munson-Williams Proctor Institute, Utica, NY
1956 Whitney Annual Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC
1957 Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL
Pennsylvania Art Academy, Philadelphia, PA
1958 Carnegie International, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Whitney Annual Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Inter-American Paintings & Prints Biennial, Mexico City, Mexico
Gutai 9, Osaka, Japan
1959 Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
De Cordova & Dana Museum, Lincoln, MA
American Federation of Arts, New York, NY
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
Whitney Annual Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
1960 Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
Marton May Exhibition, St. Louis, MO
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY
Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, IL
University of Illinois, Peoria, IL
Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, MN
Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC
1961 Decorative Arts Center, New York, NY
Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, VA
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
University of Illinois, Peoria, IL
Whitney Annual Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC
Carnegie International, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
1962 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL
Whitney Annual Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1963 Allentown Art Museum, James A. Michener Foundation, PA
Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC
Herron Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Herron Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
Whitney Annual Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1964 Whitney Annual Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
New York World Fair, New York, NY
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Whitney Museum, New York, NY
1970 University of Texas, Austin, TX
Whitney Annual Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1976 Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, TX
Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1977 Rutgers University Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ
Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, MN
Nashville Museum, Nashville, TN
1986 Biennale, Venice, Italy
1989 Schim Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy
1989-90 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno, Spain
1990 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Fundacion Cultural Mapfre Vida, Madrid, Spain
1990-91 ART/LA, Los Angeles, CA
1991 Musee National Centro de Arte Reina Sophia, Madrid, Spain
Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France
1991-92 Miami International, Miami, FL
1992 Isidore Ducasee Fine Arts, New York, NY
1994 Hunter College Art Galleries, New York, NY
1995 Galleria d'arte Bergamo, Italy
Nassau County Museum of Art, New York, NY
1997 Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
1998 Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT·
1999 Musee National Centro de Arte Reina Solia, Madrid, Spain
2000 Musees de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
1999-04 Galerie Yoramgil, West Hollywood, CA
2001 Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Cultural Center Bank of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2001-02 Tate Gallery, London and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
2002 Kouros Gallery, New York, NY
Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA
2005 Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona and Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilboa, Spain
National Academy of Design, New York, and Phoenix Art Museum, AZ
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Arturo Schwarz Surrealist Foundation, Milan
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Berkeley Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas, Austin, TX
De Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Doane College, Crete, NE
Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Milan, Italy
Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, Italy
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul, MN
Mitchener Foundation, Allentown, Pennsylvania, PA
Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
Museum of International Center for Aesthetic Research, Turin, Italy
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Neuberger Museum of Art, State University of New York, Purchase, NY
Newark Museum Association, Newark, NJ
Oklahoma City Art Museum, Oklahoma City, OK
Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Rockefeller Institute, Albany, NY
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
St. Paul Art Center, St. Paul, MN
Swarthmore College, Philadelphia, PA
Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
The Lowe Museum, University of Miami, Miami, FL
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS
University of Michigan Art Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT