Abstract Expressionist Artists: La Grande Occassione Della Pittura Americana Milano, 1963 (Hand Signed by Jim Dine)

We acquired this historic 1963 invitation and then Jim Dine graciously signed it for us in black marker - as he was/is the only artist of the entire group who was still alive. We know of no other one in the entire world with any authentic hand signature by any of the artists exhibited; nobody else you know will have it. This very rare invitation/poster was published on the occasion of this important 1963 exhibition of American painting at the Galleria Ariete, Mostra n. 94, in Milan, Italy. The roster of artists represented is literally a Who's Who of American Abstract Expressionists of the era. The Galleria dell'Ariete in Milan, Italy, opened in 1955, and ran an active exhibition until its closing in the mid-1980s. It was among the most important galleries in Italy for contemporary art, and had extensive connections with dealers, collectors, artists, and critics in Europe, the United States, and Japan. Beatrice Monti della Corte opened the Galleria dell'Ariete at Via San Andrea, 5, Milan, Italy in 1955, when she was twenty-five years old, principally as a showplace for modern art; Galleria dell'Ariete rapidly became one of the foremost
Italian galleries for contemporary art, forming close connections with such like-minded establishments as the galleries of Kasmin and Waddington in London, and Leo Castelli, Ileana Sonnabend, and Betty Parsons in New York. Artists such as Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns amongst the Americans, and Andrea Cascella, Enrico Castellani, and Luigi Parzini amongst Italians were particular enthusiasms of hers, as was the Spaniard Antoni Tápies, and she kept in personal contact with some of them even after she had finally closed the gallery. She was also amongst the first to exhibit
the work of the English artists Francis Bacon and David Hockney in Italy, and, as her business became established, she started to bring modern Asian art, especially Japanese, within its range. The extensive archives of the gallery, in both Italian and English, was ultimately acquired by the Getty Museum in San Francisco, where they remain to this day.
Provenance of the signature is direct and irrefutable; authenticity guaranteed.