Right angles: the father of Italian geometric art comes to London
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Gianfranco Pardi was the father of geometry in Italy in the 20th century. Like Leonardo da Vinci, who first put applied geometry to art, Pardi was born in Milan, and his work bears the traces of da Vinci’s approach, interested in the meeting of painting, sculpture, architecture, mathematics and science.
Until now, Pardi has been somewhat of a well-kept Italian secret. The Associazione Culturale Gianfranco Pardi in Milan – founded to conserve the artist’s archive and define his contributions to Italian art – has established Pardi’s importance in his homeland, but now Cortesi Gallery in London is showing Pardi’s work in the first major monographic survey of his work outside Italy.
‘Sistema’, 1976
Focusing on works produced from 1968 to 1988, the earliest is his seminal Giardino Pensile (Roof Garden) from 1968, with its alien-green glazed aluminium, is a reflection on a dual concept of space as biomorphic and geometric, real and imagined, manmade and natural.
The work — on view in London — also coincided with the beginnings of Pardi’s ongoing collaboration with Giorgio Marconi at Studio Marconi (now operating as Fondazione Marconi) — who worked with avant-garde artists defining the artistic movements of their day, like Man Ray, Sonia Delaunay and Lucio Fontana.
From left, ‘Finestra’, 1977; ‘Casa’, 1981; and ‘Giardino Pensile’, 1969
Throughout the 1970s, Pardi continued to be inspired by architecture. In his series Architettura, he introduced structural steel bars and buffed metal surfaces to his canvases — radical in his day — creating works that combined painting, drawing and sculpture in one work, another radical idea at the time.
Architecture continued to be a source of wide-eyed fascination for the Italian artist. From these poetic ruminations on canvas in the 1970s, inspired by windows and ceilings, among other interior structures, Pardi moved outwards, and began to imagine whole structures — the home (Casa, 1981), the museum, (Museo, 1980) and even, a cinema (Cinema 02/1, 1987).
From left, ‘Sistema’, 1976; ‘Architettura’, 1973; and ‘Architettura’, 1970
This survey at Cortesi places Pardi’s work in the wider context of European art history — somewhere between abstraction, constructivism and neoplaticism. They’re also, as it happens, very pleasing to look at.
Left, Architettura, 1973. Right, Architettura, 1973
Left, Cinema 02/1, 1987. Right, Diagonale, 1982
Left, Cinema 02/1, 1987. Right, Architettura, 1973
INFORMATION
‘Gianfranco Pardi. Works 1968 – 1988’ is on view until 11 March. For more information visit the Cortesi Gallery website (opens in new tab)
ADDRESS
Cortesi Gallery
41–43 Maddox Street
London W1S 2PD
VIEW GOOGLE MAPS (opens in new tab)
Charlotte Jansen is a journalist and the author of two books on photography, Girl on Girl (2017) and Photography Now (2021). She is commissioning editor at Elephant magazine and has written on contemporary art and culture for The Guardian, the Financial Times, ELLE, the British Journal of Photography, Frieze and Artsy. Jansen is also presenter of Dior Talks podcast series, The Female Gaze.
-
Hæckels beauty school opens in Margate with innovative curriculum
Hæckels Academy is a beauty school from the Margate-based brand with skincare courses focused on treating skin of colour
By Mary Cleary • Published
-
Fingertip rings: discover the new jewellery silhouette with Nour by Jahan
Adorn your fingers with Nour by Jahan’s new additions to the ’Passion’ collection
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Yevheniia Dubrovska brings a contemporary warmth to an art collector’s apartment in Kyiv
An interior project by Yevheniia Dubrovska puts the emphasis on local materials and clean space
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Seven exhibitions to welcome London’s Centre for British Photography
Opening on 25 January 2023, the new Centre for British Photography in London is set to build on the Hyman Collection and will be holding seven shows, on until 30 April
By Martha Elliott • Published
-
Royal College of Physicians Museum presents its archives in a glowing new light
London photography exhibition ‘Unfamiliar’, at the Royal College of Physicians Museum (23 January – 28 July 2023), presents clinical tools as you’ve never seen them before
By Martha Elliott • Published
-
London art exhibitions: a guide for early 2023
Your guide to the best London art exhibitions, and those around the UK, as chosen by the Wallpaper* arts desk
By Harriet Lloyd Smith • Published
-
‘Strange Clay’ review: a mucky, uncanny, visceral survey of ceramic art
At London’s Hayward Gallery, group show ‘Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art’ sees ceramic artists explore the physical, psychological, political and power of their medium
By Emily Steer • Published
-
Ai Weiwei to sign blank sheets of paper with UV ink for Refugees International in London this weekend
To mark Human Rights Day (10 December 2022), Ai Weiwei will take to Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park to sign sheets of A4 paper in UV ink, distributed free. We interview the artist to find out more
By TF Chan • Published
-
Home, the London art initiative championing BIPOC artists, launches appeal to save the space
Home, one of the few art spaces in London supporting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic artists, has launched an urgent appeal to stay alive
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
The art fair personality test: what type of Art Basel Miami Beach visitor are you?
Are you a selfie seeker or a champagne visualist? Take our art fair personality test to identify yourself at Art Basel Miami Beach (1-3 December)
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
The World Reimagined revisits the history of the transatlantic slave trade through art
Ahead of a Bonhams auction on 21 November, The World Reimagined will conclude with an epic finale in Trafalgar Square this weekend (19 and 20 November). The initiative uses art to illuminate the history of the transatlantic slave trade, inviting us ‘to face our shared history with honesty, empathy and grace’.
By Amah-Rose Mcknight Abrams • Published