This document helps to understand the pivotal role played by one of the most prominent galleries involved in the renewal of Argentine art in the 1960s. In 1946, after World War II, the Italian Alfredo Bonino opened the Galería Domus in São Paulo. In 1949, he organized three exhibitions at the Galería Samos in Buenos Aires and eventually, in 1951, opened the Galería Bonino, which remained in operation until 1979. In 1954, Bonino branched out into the publishing business by establishing the Editorial de Arte Galería Bonino, making something of a name for itself in the field of modern art. During the 1960s he expanded to Rio de Janeiro and New York. Bonino was a groundbreaker in the art market in Buenos Aires, introducing new methods for promoting exhibitions, building specific venues, and negotiating contracts with artists. In the 1950s, Bonino exhibited the works of famous artists who had been active in the renewal of the visual arts in the 1930s; in the following decade he promoted both Informalist and New Figuration painters as well as European and North American artists from the international circuit. This document, which may have originally been written as a press release, describes the plans for the construction of the Galería Bonino, a project handled by the Argentinean architect Clorindo Testa, who worked closely with the architect Giancarlo Puppo. The gallery, a new concept in Buenos Aires at the time, was built at 636, Marcelo T. Alvear Street. The description of the architectural remodeling of the site provides insight into Alfredo Bonino’s commercial, and to some extent, curatorial, strategy. This is a file clipping from the Galería Bonino, Fundación Espigas archive.
