Founding and specialization
The historic Longari arte Milano gallery was opened by Nella Longari, with her sons Mario and Ruggero, at the beginning of the 1950s on via Bigli, in the very center of Milan. In 2019, the premises moved to Palazzo Cicogna at Corso Monforte 23, just a stone’s throw from the Duomo. The gallery’s historical-artistic research focus has always been primitive Italian sculpture; this activity has expanded over the last few decades with an interest in European sculpture production, illuminated fragments, and art objects from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries. Longari arte Milano has always been present at the most important national exhibitions, among which the Florence Biennale stands out; in recent years it has also been busy abroad. In particular, the recent participation at TEFAF Maastricht has been an occasion for increasingly different and attentive experiences, so as to broaden the gaze to every need in international collecting.
LONGARI arte MILANO and its historical-artistic heritage
The works selected by the Gallery have been variously loaned to cultural exhibitions, both in Italy and abroad, thereby also highlighting the importance of constant activity in favor of studies and enhancement of the historical-artistic heritage. Over the years, there have also been various sales to national and international institutions and museums. In the 1970s, the Holy See acquired a group of medieval wooden sculptures, which can still be admired today in Vatican churches and properties. Acquisitions by the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Pinacoteca di Brera and the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, date to a more recent period.
LONGARI arte MILANO and art historians
The gallery’s over seventy years of activity have been characterized by meetings with numerous figures from the worlds of culture, fashion, and the economy – both Italian and international. A real relationship of friendship, as well as collaboration, has been established over time with the great names from the world of art criticism. Among the most famous signatures have been Luciano Bellosi, Carlo Bertelli, Miklós Boskovits, Giuliano Briganti, Enzo Carli, Antonio Giuliano, Mina Gregori, Giovanni Previtali, and Federico Zeri. This precious collaboration continues today with new generations of scholars.
Exhibitions and catalogues
Among the exhibitions curated by Longari arte Milano several exhibitions accompanied by now famous catalogs stand out, starting with Three Centuries of Wooden Sculptures in the early 1970s at the Pirelli cultural center. Within the walls of the previous headquarters on Via Bigli, From the Bible of Corradino to Jacopo della Quercia. Italian sculptures and miniatures of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in the mid-1990s, and at the Diocesan Museum of Milan in 2010: A crucifix from fourteenth century Lucca. Around the rediscovery of a medieval wooden masterpiece.
The third generation: Marco Longari
Marco Longari represents the third generation of this dynasty of antique dealers, and today he leads the gallery with closer attention to the international market. He has been a Member of the Associazione Antiquari d’Italia since 2016 and is also a member of the Associazione Antiquari Milanesi, FIMA, and CINOA.