On the day of her birth, a gathering of fairies must have been held around Rossella's cradle!

Rossella Clombari, fourth heir to a fabulous line of antique dealers founded by Marino Colombari. Born in 1874, he created the first store in Saluzzo, a small medieval town in Piedmont.

 

Marino, Giovanni, Armando, today Rossella and his sister Paola… These five first names have inscribed the name Colombari on the pediment of the pantheon of art dealers. From Saluzzo to Milan, via Turin, this dynasty of antique dealers has developed, which has now become an essential part of the international circuits and which now collaborates with the greatest museums, such as the Victoria & Albert Museum or the Musée d'Orsay, which have acquired pieces by Carlo Mollino and Carlo Bugatti respectively.

 

“40 anni di Galleria Rossella Colombari”… To pay homage to his predecessors Rossella offers us a book. But rather than recounting “the Colombari saga” she looks back on 40 years of her life as an antique dealer, and it is fascinating.

 

The originality of the book, even beyond the gallery's work with the greatest designers and architects of 20th century Italy and the excellence of the pieces presented there, lies in the fact that Rossella says everything (or almost) and without filters of this profession. Her personality, her self-confidence, her energy, her freedom of tone contrast with the cozy little world of antique dealers where caution, discretion and silence usually have the force of law.

 

A book as a novel of a life, that of a passionate person. In the art world, everyone will find something about them, whether they are young apprentice gallery owners or experienced curators.

 

Here the copy of the (astronomical) amount of the sale made during one of the first trade fairs, her dreamed (fantasized?) relationship with Carlo Mollino, her talents as an investigative detective... "I was there in a flash"... from the more “mature” gallery owner and prestigious collaborations, Robert Wilson, Jean-Michel Wilmotte… Thrilling or funny little stories of buying and selling… which do not make us forget that above all, there is her eye, her intuitions, a reflection, a vision and a lot of work.

 

Of her, she says a lot but of her collectors you will know nothing, except of one, Ettore Molinario, her husband.

The collezione Molinario is more than 1000 photographs, “It is the psychoanalytical journey of my husband who with a strong artistic feeling explored all this part of man and woman”.

Economist turned art historian, Ettore Molinario plans to open very soon an art center in Milan dedicated to his passion, photography.

 

 

Needless to say, we're sticking with them and taking a front row seat for decades to come!