Valero Adami

VALERIO ADAMI (Bologna, Italy, 1935).
"Balkanzug Montag 1910".
Silkscreen on paper. Edition 26/150-
Signed and dated in pencil by the artist.
Measurements: 50 x 638 cm; 64 x 52 cm (frame).
The work refers to the Balkanzug (Balkan Train), a luxury rail service that connected Berlin with Constantinople. The mention of "1910" and "Montag" (Monday) situate the scene in a European historical context prior to World War I. A painter, designer, and printmaker, Valerio Adami trained in Achille Funi’s studio and at the Brera Academy in Milan, and subsequently settled in Paris in 1957. In 1962, he held his first major exhibition in London, and shortly thereafter participated in Documenta III in Kassel. His success was rapid, and in 1968 he represented Italy at the Venice Biennale. Around this time, he created four large murals at the Firstar Bank headquarters in Madison (U.S.). In 1985, retrospective exhibitions were dedicated to him at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and at the Communo in Milan, and in 1993 the Adami Academy-Foundation was established in Liechtenstein. His work is currently represented at MoMA in New York, the Palazzo Magnani in Reggio Emilia, the SMAK in Ghent, the Palazzo Ruspoli in Rome, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Trento, among others.