With twenty years’ experience in the international art market, in 2014 Umberto Giacometti founded Giacometti Old Master Paintings.
Since its foundation, the gallery has been invited to exhibit in major international art fairs such as TEFAF Maastricht, TEFAF New York, Paris Tableau, Highlights International Art Fair in Munich, the International Biennial Antiques Fair in Florence and Rome and Flashback in Turin.
Giacometti Old Master Paintings, Naples. Courtesy Giancarlo Izzo
GOMP’s core activities are researching, selecting and selling rare and significant artworks, by engaging in a rigorous confrontation with scholars, curators and collectors and in an open dialogue with public and private institutions in Europe and the US. Particularly fruitful is the gallery’s relationship with the museums in Italy, which has resulted in recent prestigious acquisitions by the Museum of San Martino in Naples and the Ducal Palace Museum in Mantua.
With the upcoming opening of the two new venues in Rome and Naples, the presentation of paintings, drawings and sculptures dating from the 16th to the 20th century will involve younger generations in projects of professional training and digital communication.
“In the digital age, the gallery has a less important role, but it remains the rendezvous for whoever wants to understand artworks with others.”
Umberto Giacometti, Giacometti Old Master Paintings. Courtesy Giancarlo Izzo
In conversation with Umberto Giacometti, Giacometti Old Master Paintings
What you predict for the future of the art system in your sector? What will your greatest challenges be? What is the biggest challenge you will be called to face?
It’s a tough time. I was getting ready for a change that has suddenly become reality. Ours is a niche sector which by its very nature tends to survive. Our inventory does not depreciate or go out of style, it maintains its value for collecting and remains a safe asset. For this reason, I choose the best pieces in the wide offer of the moment and I plan for the medium term with flexibility.
How did you choose your two locations?
Rome-Naples is the formula of my returning home. Today we are all interconnected in digital space, while exhibitions, fairs and auctions bring us together all over the world. The gallery is a place where I can plan and rest amidst paintings and sculptures. I will invite to a physical experience that goes from the work of art to the hall, to the city and then to the territory to tell stories, explain the forms and clarify their meaning.
Giacometti Old Master Paintings, Rome. Courtesy Giancarlo Izzo
Are there any social, environmental or educational initiatives related to art that you have recently undertaken or would like to dedicate yourself to in the future?
I have young people with different education and goals working with me, who gain experience from me and from whom I learn. Art is the decisive experiment. The transformation of nature and society in an ongoing confrontation between perception and imagination. Every choice of ours is social instance, environmental proposal, response to the future.
How do you imagine your gallery ten years from now?
I see young people following their dreams. Open and supportive, faithful in their instincts and serene in waiting. In the digital age, the gallery has a less important role, but it remains the rendezvous for whoever wants to understand artworks with others. Having a roof and walls makes sense, maybe a kitchen, too, to be ready to receive by appointment, even outside office hours.
Giacometti Old Master Paintings, Naples. Courtesy Giancarlo Izzo
“Do you have any unrealised projects?”
There is still much to do, what I have not yet started is well under way. I tend to seek perfection in the care for details as well as to widen the borders of the whole. I have always pushed the limit but it was never enough. I intend to exclude the time and spaces required for printing with digital catalogs that will announce, follow and never limit the developments of an exhibition open to being constantly updated.
Giacometti Old Master Paintings, Rome. Courtesy Giancarlo Izzo
