Rediscovering a Face. Omar Galliani for Paolo Troubetzkoy

The Exhibition

On Saturday, October 25, at 11:00 a.m., Palazzo Viani Dugnani opens the site-specific exhibition “Rediscovering a Face. Omar Galliani for Paolo Troubetzkoy”, curated by Vera Agosti.

This solo show by Omar Galliani, a master of contemporary drawing renowned internationally, pays homage to Paolo Troubetzkoy and his celebrated Ballerina — a light, dynamic female figure that Galliani reinterprets and rediscovers as an emblem of all dancers and as an allegory of dance and femininity.

The Ballerina

Since his youth, Galliani has also explored the language of sculpture. Among the sculptors who have inspired him, Paolo Troubetzkoy holds a special place. Years ago, Galliani found in an antique market a bronze reproduction of Troubetzkoy’s famous Ballerina (Lady Constance Stewart Richardson). From that encounter was born the artistic dialogue that now takes shape in this exhibition in Verbania.

Galliani’s cosmic ballerina is more than a dancer — she is a universal symbol of movement and femininity. A slender, fluid figure immersed in the blackness of an astral night, she contains within herself the entire cosmos. The work engages in dialogue with Troubetzkoy’s original 1915 plaster sculpture from the Museum’s collections, as well as with other depictions of dancers by the same artist.

The Exhibition Path

The exhibition continues with an unpublished mantra, composed of two sections: an intense female face bearing a red bindi, symbol of the Orient; and, within the sacred glow of engraved gold leaf, the apparition of an angel — graceful as a dance step.

This is followed by a refined selection of drawings where life and death, reality and imagination intertwine: flowers, shoes, rings, skulls, and splendid haloed faces. These are Galliani’s “New Saints” — men and women of our time, bearers of profound spirituality and intense emotional energy.

Omar Galliani

Born in Montecchio Emilia in 1954, Omar Galliani studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna. He has taken part in major international exhibitions: three Venice Biennales (1982, 1984, 1986), two Rome Quadriennales (1986, 1996), and Biennales in São Paulo, Tokyo, Paris, and Beijing (2003).

He has exhibited at prestigious venues such as New York University (1998) and numerous museums in China (2000–2005), culminating in the exhibition “Omar Galliani: Between East and West” at the Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice (2007).

His works are included in major Italian museum collections, including the Uffizi Galleries, the MART in Rovereto, and the Museo del Novecento in Milan.

Among his recent exhibitions: Around Caravaggio (2017), Raphael and the Echo of the Myth (2018), The Body of Drawing (2019), Stolen Kisses / Covid-19 (2021), Self-Reflections (2021), and Drawing Has No Time (2021).

Recognized as one of the leading masters of contemporary drawing, Galliani has ennobled the art of draftsmanship, bringing it into the present. His inspiration stems not only from art history but also from fashion, cinema, music, and his travels between East and West. His figurative universe always conceals — sometimes overtly, sometimes subtly — a conceptual dimension.

Since his early years, his works have often included sculptural elements, enriched with details in white Carrara marble that emphasize both form and meaning.