Giacomo Manzù: The Artist and his Dealer

Rosenberg & Co. is pleased to present Giacomo Manzù: The Artist and his Dealer, in collaboration with Giulia Manzoni and the Fondazione Giacomo Manzù. Bringing together Manzù’s sculpture, works on paper, and rare archival material, this exhibition follows the historical relationship between the artist and his dealer, Alexandre Rosenberg, while continuing to honor the legacy of intimate collaboration between the two families.

Giacomo Manzù (1908–1991) was an Italian sculptor. Born in the province of Bergamo in northern Italy to a cobbler and sacristan of a small parish, he went on to become an internationally recognized artist and a trusted sculptor of Pope John XXIII. As Manzù developed his practice, he became known for his series of bronze figures and reliefs, particularly his series of Cardinals. As a political leftist, however, Manzù’s subjects were not grounded in doctrine but allowed the artist to play with form and gesture against the backdrop of well-known motifs. 

Between 1965 and 1985, six formal exhibitions of Manzù’s work were held at Paul Rosenberg & Co., New York, each developed through close friendship with the artist and mutual devotion to the work. A decades-long correspondence between the artist and Alexandre Rosenberg reveals a relationship marked by trust, sincerity, and devotion. In 1966, Alexandre wrote to Manzù, “the small ‘Artist and Model’ has been finally installed in our home, and the house is starting to look like a Manzù Museum of its own, for our great pleasure.” These quieter exchanges make public the long-term commitment that underpinned the circulation of Manzù’s work and its continued stewardship.

This will be the first exhibition of Manzù’s work in New York since his 1985 exhibition, Recent Bronzes, held at Paul Rosenberg & Co. Featuring Manzu’s Standing Cardinal (1972) and Cestino (1984), this exhibition revisits similar themes and includes original catalogs and correspondence between the artist and his dealer from 1965 to 1985. The Artist and his Dealer explores the artist-dealer relationship as a place of both personal and professional exchange, situating each work within a history of connoisseurship and care.