Enrico Donati (February 19, 1909 – April 25, 2008) was an Italian-American Surrealist painter and sculptor.
Life and work Enrico Donati studied economics at the Università degli Studi, Pavia , and in 1934 moved to the USA, where he attended the New School for Social Research and the Art Students League of New York . His first one-man shows were in New York in 1942, at the New School for Social Research and the Passedoit Gallery. At this stage he was clearly drawn to Surrealism. This was reinforced by meeting André Breton and coming into contact with Marcel Duchamp and the other European Surrealists in New York at the time. A typical work of this period, St Elmo’s Fire (1944; New York, MoMA), contains strange organic formations suggestive of underwater life.
Donati was one of the organizers of the Exposition Internationale du Surréalisme held in Paris in the summer of 1947, to which he contributed a painting and two sculptures. In the late 1940s he responded to the crisis in Surrealism by going through a Constructivist phase, from which he developed a calligraphic style and drew onto melted tar, or diluted paint with turpentine . He also became associated with Spatialism , founded by Lucio Fontana . Thus began his long fascination with surface and texture, including mixing paint with dust, that culminated in the 1950s in his Moonscapes, a series that has similarities with the work of Dubuffet . The fossil became a major theme for Donati through the 1960s, and he gave new importance to color in his Fossil works, for example in Red Yellow Fossil (1964; Miami , Hills Col., see Selz, p. 19). In 1961, he was given a major retrospective at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and frequently exhibited at group shows in the USA and elsewhere. He held a number of important teaching and advisory posts, including Visiting Lecturer at Yale University (1962–1972).
Considered by some in the art world to be one of the last of the Surrealists, Enrico Donati died in his home in Manhattan on April 25, 2008, aged 99. Donati's health had been failing since involved, as a passenger, in a taxi accident in July, 2007. He eventually succumbed to complications sustained from his injuries.
Museums and collections The Museum of Modern Art, New York Guggenheim Museum, New York Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Washington University, Missouri Museum of Fine Art of Houston, Texas Boca Raton Museum of Art , FloridaMusees Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Belgium Museum of International Center of Aesthetic Research, Turin Albright-Knox Art Gallery, New York The Detroit Institute of Art, Michigan University of Michigan Art Gallery, MichiganBaltimore Museum of Art , Maryland·Newark Museum Association, New JerseyGalleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome Mitchener Foundation, Pennsylvania Massachusetts Institute of Technology , MassachusettsThe Rockefeller Institute, New York Johns Hopkins Hospital , MarylandYale University Art Gallery , ConnecticutWashington Gallery of Modern Art , Washington D.C. Tougaloo College , MississippiThe Israel Museum , Israel University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley University of Texas, Austin Museum of Fine Arts, Florida Tacoma Art Museum , WashingtonSt. Paul Art Center, Minnesota The Lowe Museum, University of Miami , Florida High Museum of Art, Georgia Doane College, Nebraska Seattle Art Museum, Washington Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco, CA [1] Vassar College , New YorkSwarthmore College , PennsylvaniaMinnesota Museum of Art, Minnesota The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden , Washington D.C. Museum of Art, Florida Orlando Museum of Art , FloridaHousatonic Community College, Connecticut Arturo Schwarz Surrealist Foundation, Italy Gallerie di Piazza Scala , Milan , Italy, magma bianco2007, The Surreal World of Enrico Donati, de Young Museum, San Francisco 2006, Weinstein Gallery, San Francisco, California (Retrospective : 130 Selected works from the Artist's Personal Collection 1942 - 2001) 2004, 2005 Gallerie Les yeux fertiles, Paris 2000-04 Galerie Yoramgil, West Hollywood, California 1998 Galerie Yoramgil, West Hollywood, California(retrospective) 1997 Boca Raton Museum (retrospective) 1995-97 Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York 1995-97 Horwitch Gallery, Scottsdale 1986, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993 Louis Newman Galleries, Beverly Hills 1989 Galerie Zabriskie, Paris 1987 Zabriskie Gallery, New York 1985 Georges Fall, Paris 1994, 1990 Carone Gallery, Fort Lauderdale 1984, 1986, 1987 Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer, New York·1980 Grand Palais, FIAC, Paris 1980 Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs 1979 Osuna Gallery, Washington D.C. 1979 Phillips Collection, Washington D.C. 1950 Galleria del Milione, Milan·1950 Obelisco, Rome 1950 Paul Rosenberg Gallery, New York 1947 Galerie Drouant Gallery, Paris 1947, 1958 Syracuse University, New York 1945-47, 1949 Durand Ruel, New York 1944, 1959 Chicago Arts Club, Chicago 1944 G. Place Galery, Washington D.C. 1942, 1944 Passedoit Gallery, New York 1979 Norton Gallery, Palm Beach 1978 Wildenstien Art Center, Houston 1978 Davenport Municipal Art Gallery, Iowa 1978 Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga 1977 Fairweather Hardin Gallery, Chicago 1977 Tennessee Fine Arts Center, Nashville 1977 Chrysler Museum, Norfolk 1977, 1979, 1982 Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles 1977 Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul 1965 Obelisk Gallery, Washington D.C. 1964 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 1964, 1966 J.L. Hudson Gallery, Detroit 1962, 1963, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1982 Staempfli Gallery, New York 1962 Neue Gallery, Munich 1961 Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels 1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1960 Betty Parsons Gallery, New York 1953 Naviglio, Milan 1952, 1953 Cavallino, Venice 1952 Alexander Iolas Galery, New York 2005 Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona and Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilboa, Spain 2005 National Academy of Design, New York, and Phoenix Art Museum , Arizona 2002 Kouros Gallery, New York 2002 Philadelphia Museum of Art , Pennsylvania 2001-02 Tate Gallery, London and Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York 2001 Portland Art Museum , Oregon 2001 Cultural Center Bank of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro 1999-2004 Galerie Yoramgil, West Hollywood, California 2000 Musees de Strasbourg 1999 Musee National Centro de Arte Reina Solia, Madrid 1998 Bruce Museum, Connecticut·1997 Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida 1995 Nassau County Museum of Art , New York 1995 Galleria d'arte Bergamo, Italy 1994 Hunter College Art Galleries, New York 1992 Isidore Ducasee Fine Arts, New York 1991-92 Miami International, Florida 1991 Musee National Centro de Arte Reina Sophia, Madrid, Spain 1991 Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France 1990-91 ART/LA, Los Angeles, California 1990 Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, Arizona·Fundacion Cultural Mapfre Vida, Madrid 1989-90 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno 1989 Schim Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany 1989 Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy 1977 Rutgers University Art Gallery, New Brunswick, New Jersey 1977 Nashville Museum, Tennessee 1976 Meredith Long Gallery, Houston, Texas 1976 Ankrum Gallery, Los Angeles, California 1970 University of Texas, Austin 1964 New York World Fair 1964 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts 1964 Whitney Museum, New York 1963 Allentown Art Museum, James A. Michener Foundation, Pennsylvania 1963 Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina 1963 Herron Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana 1962 Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama 1961 Decorative Arts Center, New York 1961 Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, Virginia 1961 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 1960 Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota 1960 University of Colorado, Boulder 1960 Marton May Exhibition, St. Louis, Missouri 1960 Martha Jackson Gallery, New York 1960, 1977 Minnesota Museum of Art, St. Paul 1959 Michigan State University 1959 De Cordova & Dana Museum, Massachusetts 1959 American Federation of Arts , New York 1959 Smithsonian Institution , Washington, D.C. 1959 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence 1958 Gutai 9, Osaka, Japan 1958, 1962 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts 1958 Inter-American Paintings & Prints Biennial, Mexico City 1959, 1957 Indiana University, Bloomington 1955 Munson-Williams Proctor Institute, Utica, New York 1954-55, 1961 Guggenheim Museum, New York 1953-54 Museum of Modern Art, New York 1953, 1954 University of Nebraska 1953 Biennale, São Paulo 1952 Saarbrücken 1952 Architectural Figurativa, Milan Italy 1952 Galleria del Cavallino, Venice, Italy 1952 Artists Spaziale, Trieste 1952 Premio Gianni, Milan, Italy 1951 Third Tokyo Annual 1951 Ninth Street Annual, New York 1950, 1986 Biennale, Venice, Italy 1948-51, 1953, 1960, 1961 University of Illinois 1947 Pasedot Gallery, New York 1947 Toledo Museum of Art 1947 University of Iowa 1947 Exposition Surrealist, Prague 1946 Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo 1946, 1963 Herron Museum of Art, Indianapolis 1945-47 Bignou Gallery, New York 1945, 1954, 1956, 1958–59, 1961–63, 1964, 1970 Whitney Annual, New York 1945, 1947, 1957 Pennsylvania Art Academy 1945, 1947, 1956, 1960-61 Cocoran Gallery, Washington D.C. 1945, 1954, 1957, 1960 Chicago Art Institute 1945, 1947, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1958, 1961 Carnegie International 1954-56, 1963-64 Member of the Jury of Fulbright Scholarship Program 1960, 1961, 1962 Visiting Lecturer at Yale University 1962-72 Member of the Yale University Council for Arts and Architecture 1970, 1972 Chairman National Committee, University Art Museum of California, Berkeley 
