Gabrielle Pizzi (1940 – 5 December 2004), born Gabrielle Wren, was an Australian

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

who promoted Aboriginal art from the Western Desert from the early 1980s. She created the Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in 1987. In 1990, Gabrielle Pizzi took contemporary Aboriginal art, including that of Anatjari Tjakamarra, to the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

and to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. Pizzi curated 11 Contemporary Aboriginal Artists for the 1990 Australian Pavilion.

Early life

Born Gabrielle Wren in Sydney, she moved to Hobart when she was five years old. Later she moved to

as a teenager. She was the daughter of Norah and Anthony Wren; her father was one of the eight children of

John Wren John Wren (3 April 1871 – 26 October 1953) was an Australian bookmaker, boxing and wrestling promoter, Irish nationalist, land speculator, newspaper owner, racecourse and racehorse owner, soldier, pro-conscriptionist and theatre owner. He ...

Career

Pizzi created Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in 1987 in

Flinders Lane, Melbourne Flinders Lane is a minor street and thoroughfare in the central business district of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The laneway runs east–west from Spring Street to Spencer Street in-between Flinders and Collins Streets. Originally laid o ...

, showing Western Desert art from

Papunya Tula Papunya Tula, registered as Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artist cooperative formed in 1972 in Papunya, Northern Territory, owned and operated by Aboriginal people from the Western Desert of Australia. The group is known for its innovative ...

and Yuendumu. She held exhibitions there every three weeks for around 20 years. She worked with art advisers from community art centres, ensuring that artists were paid correctly and new artists supported. Pizzi was known as a woman with great integrity who treated the artists with enormous respect. Pizzi was a pioneer in the Aboriginal art world and made it her life's mission to have Aboriginal art accepted as powerful contemporary art, and since 1990, regularly curated exhibitions of Australian Aboriginal art internationally. '' Australian Art Collector'' wrote “Pizzi stands alone among commercial dealers in her longstanding efforts to take Aboriginal art to the world", and described her as being "instrumental in securing its international profile".Hutak, M. '' Australian Art Collector'', Issue 17, July - September 2001, 2001. She brought the work of artists such as

Ronnie Tjampitjinpa Ronnie may refer to: *Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name * "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe *"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load'' *Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...

Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri (b.c.1926 at Marnpi southeast of Kintore, Northern Territory – 1998), was one of the most important painters to emerge from the Western Desert cultural bloc, Western Desert. From the Pintupi language group, Mick Nam ...

and

Emily Kame Kngwarreye Emily Kame Kngwarreye (or Emily Kam Ngwarray) (1910 – 3 September 1996) was an Aboriginal Australian artist from the Utopia community in the Northern Territory. She is one of the most prominent and successful artists in the history of Austr ...

to the world, showing Aboriginal art in exhibitions in Venice,

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

, Moscow, and Jerusalem. She also showed artists from

Maningrida Maningrida, also known as Manayingkarírra and Manawukan, is an Aboriginal community in the heart of the Arnhem Land region of Australia's Northern Territory. Maningrida is east of Darwin, and north east of Jabiru. It is on the North Central ...

, including John Mawurndjul, James Iyuna and Jimmy An.gunguna. Pizzi donated 21 works of Aboriginal art and fashion to the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

. In addition to her career as an art dealer, Pizzi was an activist for

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all Animal consciousness, sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their Utilitarianism, utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding s ...

and

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

rights in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Death

Pizzi died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

after eighteen months' illness. She was survived by her daughter, Samantha.

References

External links

Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi Press Release from Heide Meusem of art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pizzi, Gabrielle Australian art dealers Australian activists 1941 births 2004 deaths Deaths from cancer in Victoria (Australia) Women art dealers Australian women activists

Early life

Career

Death

References

Further reading

External links