From Brooklyn to the Bargello: A Retrospective of the Work of Salvatore Catalano
Curated by Clayton Calvert 06.13.2023 - 10.4.2023 Living Room and Narthex Galleries
Presented with NYC Culture Club
Salvatore John Catalano grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the oldest son of poor Sicilian immigrants. At eleven years old, his father’s death made it necessary for him to work delivering groceries and helping the janitor at the neighborhood church.
An old Italian building superintendent gave young Sal a small book of Raphael’s paintings, sparking his imagination about the wider world. He made frequent visits to The Brooklyn Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art, finding it hard to believe that mortals created the masterpieces he discovered there.
Sal created a series of portraits after a career as one of America’s premier commercial illustrators, decades of teaching, and years of studying the masters in Florence, Italy, explaining, “I look for the truth in a face and find it in the eyes.”