Project Description
Elisabetta Keller is one of a large group of artists who despite having received great acclaim during their career were quite forgotten shortly after their death. The reasons for this amnesia are very varied, often linked to the historical and social context, sometimes connected to market mechanisms or the lack of a willing and able reputable gallery owner. Keller received the critics’ attention right from her first participation in the “National Exhibition of Brera” in Milan in 1921, when she exhibited a portrait of a man in pastel – the beautiful portrait of her close friend, the poet Delio Tessa. From this moment the painter was never off the art scene and participated practically without any interruptions until the ’50s in the most important national and international exhibitions. Since then criticism followed the painter’s work closely, and today the Archives preserve autographs, catalogues, and press articles dedicated to her – among others, by Margherita Sarfatti, Giorgio Nicodemi, Guido Verga, Aldo Carpi, Guido Marangoni, and of course Delio Tessa.