Gabrielle Pizzi
Encyclopedia
Gabrielle Pizzi was an Australia
n art dealer
who promoted Aboriginal art
from the Western Desert from the early 1980s.
she moved to Hobart
when she was five years old. Later she moved to Melbourne
as a teenager.
In addition to her art dealer career, Pizzi was an activist for animal rights
and Palestinian rights in Israel
.
after eighteen months' illness. She had one daughter, Samantha, and was the granddaughter of John Wren
.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n art dealer
Art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
who promoted Aboriginal art
Australian Aboriginal art
Indigenous Australian art is art made by the Indigenous peoples of Australia and in collaborations between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians . It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, wood carving, rock carving, sculpture, ceremonial clothing and sandpainting...
from the Western Desert from the early 1980s.
Early life
Born Gabrielle Wren, in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
she moved to Hobart
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
when she was five years old. Later she moved to Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
as a teenager.
Career
PIizzi created Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in 1987 in Flinders Lane, Melbourne, and soon became known as a pioneer for Aboriginal art who treated the artists with integrity and respect. She held many one-man shows and group shows in her gallery, and she sold works which often collected high prices.In addition to her art dealer career, Pizzi was an activist for animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
and Palestinian rights in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Personal life
Pizzi died of cancerCancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
after eighteen months' illness. She had one daughter, Samantha, and was the granddaughter of John Wren
John Wren
John Wren was an Australian businessman. He has become a legendary figure thanks mainly to a fictionalised account of his life in Frank Hardy's novel Power Without Glory, which was also made into a television series...
.
Further reading
- Jones, Philip. "Gabrielle Pizzi, Gallery owner, collector, 1940-2004", Sydney Morning Herald, 18 December 2004.
- Coslovich, Gabriella. "Farewell to a Trailblazer", The Age, 7 December 2004.
- Heide Museum of Modern Art, "Mythology & reality : contemporary Aboriginal desert art from the Gabrielle Pizzi collection", Melbourne, 2003.
- Pizzi, Gabrielle with Simeon Kronenberg. "Why Gabrielle Pizzi has changed her mind about Aboriginal art / Gabrielle Pizzi tells Simeon Kronenberg", Art Monthly, vol. 85, November, 1995, pp. 7-9.
- Benjamin, Roger. "The work is the statement : an interview with Gabrielle Pizzi", Art Monthly supplement: Aboriginal Art in the Public Eye, vol. 56, no. 1992/93, 1992, pp. 24-27.