A life for art
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| Princess Topazia Alliata, Self Portrait (1933) |
Princess Topazia Alliata (5 September 1913 – 23 November 2015) was an Italian painter, art curator and writer.
Alliata was born in Palermo, as a daughter of Prince Enrico Alliata di Villafranca, duke of Salaparuta, while her mother was a former opera singer, Amelia 'Sonia' Ortuzar Olivares, the daughter of a Chilean diplomat.
After graduating from the Liceo artistico Alliata where studied fine arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Palermo, she was a fellow of Renato Guttuso, who portrayed her is several paintings.
In 1935 she married Fosco Maraini, at the time an unknown scholar, who would later become an important anthropologist.
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| Princess Topazia Alliata in Japan in 1940 Photo: Fosco Maraini |
In 1941 they moved in Japan, where in 1943 they were deported in a concentration camp in Nagoya because they had refused to swear allegiance to the Republic of Salò.
Released in September 1945, in 1946 they returned in Italy, settling in Bagheria, where Topazia engaged in the family business, the Salaparuta's Crow Wines.
In 1955 the couple split, and Alliata moved to Rome, where she continued her work as a painter. In 1959 she founded the Galleria Topazia Alliata ('Topazia Alliata Gallery') in Trastevere, where she mainly exhibited avant-garde painters.
Alliata was also author of several books, notably Love holidays. Quaderni d'amore e di viaggi, a partly photographic autobiography published in 2014 by Rizzoli.
She died in Rome on November 23, 2015.
In the time of her death she was 102 years old.
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| Dacia Maraini |
Dacia Maraini's (writer)was her daughter.
'A life for art' is exhibition placed in
Palazzo Sant'Elia dedicated to a Topazia Alliata's life.
Eclectic, charming, unconventional noblewoman of Palermo, one step ahead of its time, Topazia Alliata of Salaparuta has always been a free spirit.
Painter, gallery owner, curator, talent scout with a decisive and sure taste, but also sporty and elegant woman with two extraordinary eyes. Married to Fosco Maraini, with daughters: Dacia, Yuki and Toni.
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| Palazzo Sant'Elia |
An exhibition in Palermo - first retrospective dedicated to her, is telling lifetime story through the photographs, drawings, letters and some of most interesting paintings rare seen before.
When:
Till January, 11th
Where:
Palazzo Sant'Elia
Via Maqueda, 81
Key words: Princess Topazia Alliata, Palermo, Sicily,Palazzo Sant'Elia, art.
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