Ezio (Azio) Martinelli

Ezio Martinelli – Modern Master

No artistic time-line pertaining to the “New York School” of mid-century modernism would be complete without the inclusion of the (Marion) Willard Gallery in New York.  In fact the eminent Research Scholar, Dr. Maurice Berger in his recently published artistic timetable titled “Abstract Expressionism: A Cultural Timeline, 1940-1976; widely illustrates the monumental contributions to the art world that the Willard Gallery made throughout his definitive pictorial chronology of Abstract Expressionism.  Other landmark galleries in the timeline include: The Samuel M. Kootz gallery; The Betty Parsons Gallery; Peggy Guggenheim’s, Art of This Century Gallery; The Sidney Janis Gallery; The Pierre Matisse Gallery, The Tibor de Nagy Gallery; The Leo Castelli Gallery; and the Karl Nierendorf Gallery – a veritable Who was Who of American Gallerist’s. 

The New York Times Wrote that Marian Willard “…was among the first  Manhattan galleries to champion modern art and its roster of artists is a historical list, including Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, David Smith, Mark Tobey and Morris Graves.”  Additionally, Dorothy C. Miller, former curator of collections at the Museum of Modern Art, stated that Marion Willard “just showed the work of artists she liked, and those she liked turned out to be important.''  Norman Lewis, a pivotal African-American Abstract Expressionist artist of the New York School who was represented by Willard once stated:  “I have known him [Mark Tobey] about 20 years and this was a rich environment. I knew Richard Lippold, David Smith, a very talented guy who accidentally was killed in an automobile accident, and there is Ezio Martinelli. The artists were almost like a stable of horses, the artists that Marion [Willard] had…”  Excerpt from the ORAL HISTORY Interview with the artist Norman Wilfred Lewis, INTERVIEWER: HENRI GHENT – Smithsonian Archives of American Art 

According to the Willard Gallery records in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art there is a great deal of “correspondence documenting Marian Willard's founding in 1936 of the East River Gallery, later (1938) the Neumann-Willard Gallery; her introduction of rental art, an innovation in the American art trade, and gallery exhibitions of various artists. Considerable exhibition and critical material for artists regularly shown by the Gallery is included: Lyonel Feininger, David Smith, Loren MacIver, David Hayes, Mark Tobey, Ezio Martinelli and Louis Schanker.” Additional artists on the impressive Willard Gallery roster include among others, Alexander Calder, Norman Lewis, Mark Rothko, Perle Fine, and Richard Pousette-Dart.

 The 1940s marked the heralding of the zenith of American abstract expressionism, America's greatest contribution to the history of modern art.  The New York School, synonymous with Abstract expressionism, Action Painting, Color Field Painting and other isms of the art establishment became ground zero in the struggle for world supremacy over the embattled modern art movements that Europe had previously long dominated.  In the end, the New York School of artists along with their supporting cast of dedicated dealers, critics, and museum curators were able to rob Paris of its “mantle as leader of modern art, and set the stage for America's post-war dominance of the international art world.”  The Willard Gallery, one of the most renowned art institutions active in New York during the apex of the movement was among the first Manhattan galleries to champion modern art.  Marion Willard, Its director and namesake was “known for her independent eye and her resistance to art world trends and fashions.  With a handful of other dealers and museum curators, she fought for acceptance of new American and European art at a time when conservatism prevailed.”  It is no wonder then that the Willard Gallery, an active participant among “a handful” of dealers championing the extremists of the new modern art movement centered in New York was uniquely positioned to identify, attract, and retain its most influential members.

One example of this law of attraction can be seen in the enduring relationship Willard Gallery had with the great American sculptor David Smith.  In 1938 Marian Willard offered Smith his first solo exhibition at her East River Gallery.  Subsequently, Willard went on to represent Smith for next eighteen years.  Clement Greenberg, one of the “most vocal, powerful, passionate, and influential art critics” of all time believed David Smith “was the greatest sculptor of the 20th century.”  Today, Smith’s Sculpture’s sell into the tens of millions of dollars and hold the world record for an American Sculptor selling at auction. 

Ezio Martinelli, a close friend and co-worker of David Smith’s (they worked at Sarah Lawrence Collage) was the only other sculptor on the venerable roster of artists represented by Willard Gallery to have a longer tenure than Smith’s.  Martinelli was represented by Willard for over twenty years starting in 1946.     

Martinelli, along with the likes of modernist luminaries such as Paul Klee, Lyonel Feininger, David Smith, Mark Tobey, and Norman Lewis, were among the very short list of the workhorse artists making up the “stable” of supreme talent “regularly shown by the Gallery.”

Today, of all the champions of modernism Marion Willard represented on a regular, enduring basis, Ezio Martinelli is the only one of her core artist not to have serious contemporary scholarly review.  A confluence of several factors contributed to this sad state-of-affairs, the greatest of which may be the fact that the bulk of Martinelli’s life’s work, his estate, remained hidden from the art world and scholars for nearly fifty years.  Also, Martinelli - a “first generation Abstract Expressionists” undoubtedly realized what many other members of the New York School must have understood toward the end of the movement – the tide of artistic change was quickly ushering in new artistic idioms.  The vacuum created by the inrush of important new artistic movements such as Pop, Op, and others bearing their own rising stars literally took the remaining wind out of the Abstract Expressionist movement.  By 1970 Irving Sandler’s Triumph of American Painting, the first history of Abstract Expressionism documenting its “vital, transformative role in the history of modern art” was a reminder that the movement was in a contemporaneous sense – long past tense. 

The ensuing years that marked the end of the meteoric rise of abstract expressionism to world dominance were artistically challenging ones for many of the prominent members associated with the greatest art movement America had ever witnessed.  Numerous artists devoted to the Abstract Expressionist movement were forgotten, or worse, cast aside for the new crop of artistic heroes moving up the “Pop” charts.  Few artists were adaptable enough to explore new expressions in art convincing enough to gain critical, let alone commercial success.  In 1966 the generally reclusive Martinelli, at the relatively young age of fifty-three, moved away from the epicenter of the New York art world to Saugerties, New York.  During the later years of his life, Martinelli continued to find fulfillment in his teaching career, and the exhibition, and creation of his art work.  Ezio Martinelli passed away in 1981 at the age of 68.   

Written by: Blake Benton