A new exhibit featuring the work of Solofra (AV) native Donatus Buongiorno is set to debut this April in New York City.

“The Art of Immigration” will be held from April 11 to May 11 at the Rectory Gallery of the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, 263 Mulberry Street. The exhibit will feature Buongiorno’s works, including pieces from private collections and secular images. Buongiorno’s work can also be seen in the form of 38 murals depicting stories of spiritual salvation and immigrant life at the Shrine Church of the Most Precious Blood at 109 Mulberry Street– this is also the church where the National Shrine to St. Gennaro is housed. Most Precious Blood is also the Sister Church of the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral.

Donatus Buongiorno was born in 1865 in Solofra (AV), Italy, and studied at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Naples. He emigrated to the United States in 1892. Upon arrival, he worked on privately commissioned portraits while working by day as a designer in a wallpaper factory. By the early 1900s, Italian-American Catholic Churches throughout the United States began commissioning him to paint murals and other church decorations. His works also appear in Boston, Mass., Brattleboro, Vt., and in other New York locations. He returned to Solofra in 1908 to work on the restoration of La Collegiata di San Michele Arcangelo.

In addition to murals and portraits, throughout his life he made easel paintings that he sold out of his studios in New York and Naples. He also served as a dealer for other Italian artists whose works he imported into the US and sold in New York, San Francisco and elsewhere.

“We gaze upon these pictures from a distance, measured by the passage of time, and find ourselves mystically connected to the people of this disappeared world,” said Msgr. Donald Sakano, Pastor of the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in a press release. “These fine paintings remind us of who we are and inspire us to see the world around ourselves as a beautiful place to live and work.”

For more information on the exhibit, go to www.donatusbuongiorno.com
or call Bill Russo, Producer at (347) 933-3337. For a full listing of events surrounding the “Art of Immigration” exhibit, click here. For more information on Donatus Buongiorno, visit http://www.donatusbuongiorno.com.