Nino Bertoletti 1889-1971

The Rome Modern Art Gallery presents the exhibition Nino Bertoletti (1889-1971), an interesting retrospective dedicated to one of the most multifaceted and least known artists of the Italian scene of the early twentieth century, capable of ranging from painting to graphics, from architecture to journalism, up to collecting. Curated by Pier Paolo Pancotto, the exhibition aims to restore centrality to a complex, eclectic and still partly to be rediscovered artist, through the reevaluation of Bertoletti’s artistic production in its entirety. The exhibition presents more than 40 works, many of which unpublished, from public and private collections, including the Rome Modern Art Gallery itself, the Museums of Villa Torlonia and the Museum of Rome at Palazzo Braschi.

Nino Bertoletti (Rome, 1889 – 1971), was an artist, architect, graphic designer, journalist and collector. His solid cultural education, numerous trips to visit exhibitions and museums throughout Europe, knowledge of foreign languages, a large and selected private library allowed the artist, from a young age, cultivating, at the same time, different interests, contributing to the formation of a heterogeneous and original artistic path.

Between the 1910s and 1930s he lived the most intense period of his artistic career, participating in the Venice Biennale, the Rome Quadriennale and the major exhibitions of the period. In these same years he collaborated in the organization of institutional events, designing an architectural intervention for via della Conciliazione and contributing to the decoration of a construction site of E42 in Rome. Also active as an art collector and dealer, as an artist he dialogued both with the avant-garde circles - such as the group of "La Casa", Villa Strohl Fern and the Roman Secession - and with the so-called "neo-classics" and with the Novecento group; he also came into contact with the major artists of his time, such as Giorgio de Chirico, Cipriano Efisio Oppo, Armando Spadini, Fausto Pirandello and literary ones, such as Luigi Pirandello, Massimo Bontempelli, Paola Masino, Emilio Cecchi. Finally, we remember that his companion in life and art was Pasquarosa Marcelli, an established painter with whom he shared creative and cultural experiences.

The exhibition is accompanied by the official catalogue published by Dario Cimorelli Editore, which not only delves into Bertoletti's pictorial activity, but also his role in graphics, architecture and cultural promotion.

The exhibition is promoted by Roma Capitale, Department of Culture, and by the Capitoline Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, with the organization of the Nino and Pasquarosa Bertoletti Archive and museum services by Zètema Progetto Cultura.

Photo credits: Nino Bertoletti - Portrait of his wife Pasquarosa (1923), oil on canvas, 60x50 cm, Rome, Nino and Pasquarosa Bertoletti Archive