NEW YORK, NY.- The Italian Cultural Institute of New York and the Pellegrini Legacy Trust present A Tale: Max Pellegrini and Italo Cremona at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York.

Supported by Fondazione CRT and curated by Danilo Eccher, director of Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Torino (GAM), this exhibition compares the work of artist Max Pellegrini (b. 1945) with that of artist Italo Cremona (1905–1979).

The two painters have much in common. Both come from Turin, a city that appears as a subject in many of their paintings, and both employ styles of figuration that generate dreamlike visions. Their work evokes associations with Surrealism while displaying strong influences from Italian literature and visual culture.

The exhibition features recent paintings by Pellegrini, most of them never seen publicly before. They show the evolution of his practice towards a delicate symbolism, in which he elegantly combines linear and chromatic styles. At the same time, the large canvases include renderings of objects that recur throughout his oeuvre, from psychedelia to protest, from the love of Renaissance art to Postmodernism. Alongside Pellegrini’s works hang three paintings by Italo Cremona. His work highlights the figurative painting vocabulary of the Piedmont region of Italy, which combines elements of Art Nouveau, the abstraction of Felice Casorati, and the experimentation of the Gruppo dei Sei.

The Pellegrini Legacy Trust’s mission is to promote the work of Max Pellegrini and to support Italian art internationally. In addition to co-organizing the exhibition A Tale: Max Pellegrini and Italo Cremona, the Pellegrini Legacy Trust has co-published, together with Allemandi, a monograph focused on the work of Pellegrini, featuring essays by Jean Clair, Danilo Eccher, Maria Teresa Roberto, Gianni Vattimo, and Nicola Trezzi. The Pellegrini Legacy Trust is part of the leadership committee for the exhibition Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe, curated by Vivien Greene, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, from February 21 to September 1, 2014.