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Salvatore Pica (7 January 1939 – 25 April 2022) was an Italian art and design entrepreneur. He was one of the first to promote design and contemporary art culture in post-war southern Italy.[1][2]
In 1968, the Centro Ellisse opened in Naples,[3] a city with many antiquarian furniture shops and restorers. Pica proposed selling modern Italian-designed products from manufacturers like Driade,[4] Alessi and Kartell, and displaying them in a house-like setting. Following this innovative showroom style, the shop changed to sell artworks by contemporary Neapolitan artists[5] and ones from his friend Lucio Amelio's Modern Art Agency.
'Centro Ellisse' was a sponsoring partner of Naples' Academy of Fine Art, producing competitions and exhibitions for art students.[6] Ellisse published books on design, art, theatre, and anthropology under the editorial project "Quaderni Ellisse". Its authors included Giulio Baffi,[7] Stefano De Stefano, and photographers including Fabio Donato.[8]
At the Pica Gallery, Pica worked as curator and gallerist, supporting young artists amongst whom were Lino Fiorito, Gennaro Castellano, Adriana De Manes, Matteo Attruia,[9] and Pierre-Yves Le Duc.[10] He also helped re-discover artists he had promoted in the past including Renato Barisani and Sergio Fermariello.[11]
Together with Lucio Rufolo, Pica was the formal founder of "Accademia della catastrofe",[12] a situationist movement which involved Neapolitan writers.
Pica wrote about anthropology in an autobiographical and ethnographical style.[12] He wrote about metropolitan anthropology, women, and Neapolitans in books published by houses including Dante & Descartes and Colonnese.[12]
Pica died in Naples on 25 April 2022, after contracting COVID-19.[13]
- La notte è dura ma non ci fa paura (1990, Colonnese)[11]
- La donna napoletana (1991, Colonnese)[12]
- Il Maschio Napoletano (1996, Dante & Descartes)[11]
- Tipi da baretto (1997, Dante & Descartes)[12]
- Vissi d'Arte: Quarant’anni sui marciapiedi dell’arte 1968–2008 (2008, Profeta/Imprint)[12]
- La Rabbia Esaudita (2012, Enzo Albano)[11]
- I napoletani (2014, Enzo Albano)[11][12]
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