The art collection of Banca del Gottardo will become part of the BSI Art Collection from the 1st of July.
BSI Art Collection
Gottardo Italia Art Collection.
San Gottardo Photography Collection.
Banca del Gottardo’s Young Swiss Art Collection.
Gottardo Italia Art Collection. |
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Banca del Gottardo’s Young Swiss Art Collection
Banca del Gottardo’s art collection was started in the sixties when Carlo von Castelberg and Rudolf Hanhart were entrusted with the task of acquiring works intended as office decorations for the bank.
In the wake of youth protest movements, von Castelberg, then Vice-President and
co-founder of the bank, as well as a great art expert and president of the Kunsthaus in Zurich from 1957 to 1987, and Hanhart, for many years head of the Kunstmuseum in St. Gallen, decided to focus their attention on young people born after 1920, who were Swiss citizens or active artistically in Switzerland, working in the post-War period. |
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The collection, known within the bank today as “Banca del Gottardo’s Young Swiss Art Collection”, continued until the beginning of the nineties. Circumstances linked to available space within the bank put a stop to the collection at 415 works or series of works in which 211 artists are represented. The acquisitions were made in 104 galleries, museums, or workshops at an average cost that was not excessive. Often, however, works were purchased from artists who at the time were just entering the market, and the attention that they received from prestigious collectors marked their future. The works are exhibited at Banca del Gottardo’s offices in Switzerland (Lugano, Chiasso, Locarno, Bellinzona, Lausanne, and Geneva). |
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Banca del Gottardo’s Swiss Photography Collection
At the beginning of the 1980s, Banca del Gottardo decided to enlarge its collection with the addition of photographic art. It was during this period that Fernando Garzoni, then Chairman of the Bank’s Board of Directors and a photographer and learned collector himself, and Guido Magnaguagno, member of management and head of exhibitions at the Kunsthaus in Zurich, launched Banca del Gottardo’s Swiss Photography Collection. |
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With the exception of historical period, the criteria for acquisitions were the same as for the art collection and led to the procurement of 250 works or series of works representing 63 photographers. Acquisitions for the photography collection came to an end in 1995, when an exhibition of the entire collection and catalogue were presented to the public at the Gottardo, Mataschi - Tenero, and Centro d’arte contemporanea - Bellinzona galleries. The photographs are exhibited at Banca del Gottardo’s offices in Lugano and Locarno. |
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San Gottardo Photography Collection
During the year 1997, the Galleria Gottardo held four photography exhibitions with a San Gottardo theme in honour of the Bank’s fortieth anniversary. Eighteen photographers from Switzerland, Italy, the UK, and Belgium were invited to participate in the project. The photographers were asked to take on the themes of “the San Gottardo as heart”, "the San Gottardo as artery", "the San Gottardo as brain". Once again in this case, there were no requirements or other requests made of them. |
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At the end of the exhibition, Claudio Generali, Chairman of the Board of the Bank as well as of the Galleria Gottardo Foundation, together with the Executive Board of Banca del Gottardo decided that for their dynamism and open-expressiveness, these 170 photographs would be included in the Bank’s collection. For the first time in Banca del Gottardo’s art collection history, works of video art were acquired. Currently, the photographs from the “San Gottardo Photography Collection” are on view at Banca del Gottardo’s Zurich branch. |
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Gottardo Italia Art Collection
With the founding in 2001 of Banca del Gottardo Italia SpA, the project of collecting extended to our affiliate’s headquarters in Bergamo. In the concept of Banca del Gottardo’s Collections, BdG Italia’s top management has perceived the opportunity to create their own Gottardo Italia Art Collection. It has been decided that the works proposed must express and represent young art from Ticino and the Bergamo province.
Two curators representing the two territories will choose the artists: for Switzerland, Nando Snozzi, artist, producer of performances and theatre, former curator of the Antico Monastero delle Agostiniane nei sotterranei dell’arte in Monte Carasso; for Italy, Mario Cresci, former director of the Accademia Carrara di Belle Arti in Bergamo, artist, photographer, and instructor at the Politecnico del Design di Milano and at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. |
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Each year they will propose five artists from Ticino and five from Bergamo. Each artist will present five works, which will remain on exhibit at the Bergamo headquarters for one year. At the end of the exhibition period, the Bank will purchase one work from each artist. The works will be placed in Banca del Gottardo Italia branches in Milan, Turin, Treviso, and Rome. In the Gottardo Italia Art Collection, following the trend among young artists today, frequently the curators propose artists who show video art or frames of their works.
The project, which began in 2001, will broaden its activity to include all of Switzerland and Northern Italy and is expected to continue until 2011, when a catalogue entitled “Gottardo Italia Art Collection” will be published. |
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