The gaze of Francesco Vezzoli, an artist who has always questioned the psychological complexities of famous people, encounters Alexander Iolas (1907-1987), a legendary figure on the art market in the late twentieth century.

Among the first to create an international system of satellite galleries, Alexander Iolas introduced Surrealism to the United States and organized Andy Warhol’s first solo exhibition. A friend and supporter of some of the greatest artists of his time, Iolas fell into oblivion soon after his death and the same fate befell his home in Athens, Villa Iolas. Its priceless art collection was pillaged and has largely been lost.
The vanished atmospheres of this legendary home and the story of its visionary owner are evoked in the exhibition Casa Iolas. Citofonare Vezzoli, curated by Francesco Vezzoli, presented at the Galleria d’Arte Tommaso Calabro from 24 September 2020 to 16 January 2021, and in this publication.

The catalogue includes an essay by Luca Massimo Barbero focusing on the figure of Alexander Iolas and the artistic and intellectual milieu of his time, three interviews with Iolas by Robert Colacello, Iris Love and Peter Dragadze (translated into Italian for the first time on this occasion), a conversation between Tommaso Calabro and Francesco Vezzoli, and a text by Filippo Bisagni on the design of the exhibition. The catalogue is enriched with an unpublished photographic section comparing the rooms of Villa Iolas before and after its dereliction, as well as photographs and archival material on the artists exhibited by the gallery, including Victor Brauner, William N. Copley, Giorgio de Chirico, Niki de Saint Phalle, Max Ernst, Lucio Fontana, Paul Klee, Yves Klein, René Magritte, Georges Mathieu, Roberto Matta, Eliseo Mattiacci, Pino Pascali, Man Ray, Martial Raysse, Fausta Squatriti, Takis, Dorothea Tanning and Jean Tinguely. The photographs of the exhibition reveal the three interpretation levels of the exhibition, in which the creations of these artists interact with works, some previously unpublished and created for the occasion, by Francesco Vezzoli and furnishing accessories that reproduce the aesthetics of Villa Iolas.