THE STORY OF THE GALLERY
“Only true great artists do not age because they are capable of renewing themselves and inventing new forms, new colors, genuine inventions.”
Thus writes Alberto Martini in his autobiography “Vita d’Artista” (1939-40), adding that: “...genuine invention is incomprehensible to those who lack a sense of the heroic. Few privileged ones can grasp it, while the others, powerless, combat it with malicious tricks. In this case, it is a matter of obscurantism...”. These few lines summarize the disappointment and bitterness of the artist towards the adverse, or at least indifferent, Italian criticism, which, starting from the 1930s, does not want or know how to recognize its originality and creative autonomy. Probably the artist's situation is also hindered by the difficulty on the part of scholars to categorize his work into a specific expressive domain. Martini himself reiterates that his “true” art does not admit labels, indeed: “From time to time [...] I am symbolic, romantic, macabre [...] I was and am at times realist and sometimes surrealist, like all the true artists of the past.
Aside from A. Belloli's essay, a certain misunderstanding seems to undermine the critical fortune of the artist even after his passing, which occurred on November 8, 1954. No other significant critical contributions appear until G. Marchiori intervenes in the catalog of the retrospective exhibition that Oderzo finally dedicates to the great master from Opitergi in 1967. The event, sponsored by the Municipality and proposed by Arturo Benvenuti, ideally marks the birth of the Gallery also thanks to the first precious and significant work donated by the widow Maria Petringa: the Self-Portrait (1911). A few years later, another 80 pieces join the first, and in 1970, the Municipal Administration officially establishes the Alberto Martini Gallery, which temporarily finds its location at the Town Hall.
Other substantial legacies (still from Petringa, then Anderloni and Tischer, Martini's heirs) thus contribute to increasing the collection, which today counts 455 works, while new publications curated by A. Benvenuti, G. Marchiori, P. Bellini, M. Lorandi are promoted, enriching the Martini bibliography and organizing monographic exhibitions on the artist. At the same time, works by other painters (including Giuseppe and Enrico Vizzotto Alberti, Giulio Erler, Ciro and Eugenio Cristofoletti, Armando Buso, Gina Roma) are also acquired, giving life to the Gallery of Opitergini painters. Later (1974), the Gallery moves to the noble floor of the Palazzo on via Garibaldi, now the Municipal Library, until, in 1994, the collection moves to its current location: the top floor of Palazzo Foscolo. At the end of Arturo Benvenuti's term, the direction of the entity passes to Gina Roma, who begins cataloging the Martini iconographic heritage and conceives the first of the four successful editions of the National Biennale of Engraving named after the Opitergini master. The activities of cataloging and studying Martini's work continue under the guidance of Roberto Costella, a supporter, among other initiatives, of the establishment of the aforementioned Gallery of Opitergini painters and the acquisition of the fonds of the Opitergini artist Tullio Vietri. The research, enhancement, and safeguarding activities of Martini's works then continue with Cristina Pillitteri, before finally passing to the current management.
