The extensive art collection of Ileana Sonnabend, a revolutionary art dealer who supported emerging artists across the United States and Europe from the late 1950s until her death in 2007 at age 92, has found a permanent home in Mantua, Italy. The Sonnabend Collection Mantova opens to the public on November 29 in the newly renovated Palazzo della Ragione, a historic 13th-century building in the city center that has previously functioned as a town hall, marketplace, courthouse, and event venue.
The new art museum represents a collaboration between the Sonnabend Collection Foundation, the municipality of Mantua, and Marsilio Arte, which will manage the space alongside the city government. Nearly 100 artworks by artists whom Sonnabend exhibited and collected during the early stages of their careers will be displayed across 11 contemporary galleries designed by Federico Fedel within the palazzo's grand hall. The featured artists include Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mario Merz, Gilbert & George, Donald Judd, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Anselm Kiefer, and Jeff Koons.
The museum facility also includes a temporary exhibition gallery, which will screen Warhol films for its inaugural show, along with a bookshop and an educational department. Among the notable works on display is Andy Warhol's "Ileana Sonnabend," a 1973 portrait of the art dealer and collector herself, courtesy of the Andy Warhol Foundation and the Sonnabend Collection.
"I always saw the collection as a kind of biography and portrait of Ileana," explains Antonio Homem, the former director of the Sonnabend Gallery in New York. Homem began working at Sonnabend's original Paris gallery in 1968 and was later adopted by Ileana and her second husband, Michael, in the late 1980s. Following the dealer's death, Homem collaborated with the late Nina Sundell, Ileana's daughter with her first husband Leo Castelli, and Ileana's granddaughter Margaret Sundell to curate the collection. "We selected a core group of works that we felt maintained the narrative of the collection," Homem notes.
While portions of the collection were previously on long-term loan at the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina in Naples from 2005 to 2012, and subsequently at Ca' Pesaro in Venice from 2013 until earlier this year, this marks the first time the entire group of works has been exhibited together in one location.
Mario Codognato, the former chief curator of the Naples museum and a lifelong friend of the Sonnabend family, served as the catalyst for this permanent installation. He was aware of the family's desire to find a permanent home for the collection and knew of the Mantua municipality's interest in transforming the Palazzo della Ragione into something significant and lasting. Codognato facilitated the partnership and now serves as the director of the Sonnabend Collection Mantua.
"The idea of having the Sonnabend Collection in a space specially designed for it in the Palazzo della Ragione, next door to the Ducal Palace and its Mantegna room and not far from the Palazzo Te and its Giulio Romano frescoes, was too wonderful to resist," Homem explains. The location places the contemporary collection in dialogue with Mantua's rich artistic heritage.
Codognato draws a compelling parallel between Sonnabend and Isabella d'Este, the Renaissance collector who was the wife of Mantua's ruler. "To be a woman and a collector of the art of her time was extremely rare," he points out. "In that sense, there is a connection with Ileana's extraordinary eye and that she was able to see first the greatest artists of her time."
While Mantua is internationally recognized for its medieval and Renaissance architecture, hosting one of the most important art collections of the second half of the 20th century positions the city prominently on the international contemporary art map. Codognato also emphasizes the collection's significance at the national level, noting that Italy still lacks major public collections from this period, particularly of American art. "This gives the opportunity to art students from all over the country to come to see the works of very relevant artists," he concludes.
