Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea Osvaldo Licini

The Osvaldo Licini Contemporary Art Gallery occupies part of the former Sant'Agostino convent in Ascoli Piceno. Paintings and drawings connect the Marche artist's changing work with a wider collection of twentieth-century art.

Why it matters

The gallery developed from a civic collection of works on paper. Its Licini holdings give particular depth to an institution that later expanded across different forms of modern art.

What to notice

Licini's works trace a movement from figuration towards abstraction and imaginative signs. Works by Fontana, Matta, Hartung, Morandi, De Pisis and Severini extend the artistic context. Tullio Pericoli's preparatory drawings for the Sala Garzanti in Milan add another dimension to the role of drawing in the collection.

Context and history

Ernesto Ercolani founded the civic graphics gallery in 1964 in Palazzo Malaspina. It became a contemporary art gallery in 1977. A major acquisition of Licini paintings and drawings preceded the move to Sant'Agostino and the dedication to the artist in 1999. The Pericoli drawings entered on deposit from Fondazione Carisap in 2007.