Before other galleries established themselves as the trendsetter of art history in Rome between the late ’50s and early ‘70s, L’Obelisco gallery (1946-1981) was one of the few places in Rome to promote contemporary artistic research with an intense, continuous and experimental activity open to both Italian and foreign art and collectors. Sprung in the wake of the Liberation, it was directed by Gaspero del Corso and Irene Brin, an influential interpreter of the most cultured and eclectic fashion journalism of the time, and a key figure of the international launch of the “Made in Italy” trademark, from the postwar period onwards. Thanks to the couple’s intuition, wide interests, openness towards novelties and their worldly milieu, L’Obelisco gallery not only supported contemporary art among connoisseurs, critics and artists, but also addressed a vaster and varied audience, radically innovating art display, communication and promotion, in the spirit of cross-pollination and dialogue between different areas of culture. This book is the first monograph about the Roman gallery. It features scientific contributions on the complex figure of Irene Brin and the legacy of L’Obelisco, a rich and partially unpublished heretofore photographic body, documentary registers, and commentaries, collected for the occasion by those who, for various reasons, have experienced that fundamental part of the history of art and culture of our country.

Printed in Italy