ANNIVERSARY :
the FRASCATI CELEBRATION of SIMBARI
and his work
(that never took place !!)
I have been asked many, many times “What Happened?” . . .
Friends and collectors (past and present) had planned to visit the
exciting group of works I had accumulated to show at Frascati’s superb
Gallery, for one week, in the Scuderia di Palazzo Aldobrandini, in the
spectacular Piazza facing Rome.
“Someone” decided to create trouble (not for the first time!!!), and ‘questioned’ my marriage and status to Nicola !! If it had not been so sad, it was funny !! Rather than fight a ridiculous ‘battle’ and create trouble for a very sick and ailing Nicola, I felt it ‘better’ to “back out gracefully” (again) - -
However, the fact remains that Nicola and I married, in London on October 1st. 1957, and there has never been a ‘divorce’ . . I love Nicola, despite ALL his ‘naughties’ !! and have been faithful to HIM, and my Promise to HIM and HIS ART, for all of our 55 years ‘together’ and apart. I gave him “his space”, and even ran his gallery, in the 80s, in New York, when he announced that he needed “the Freedom” to show whatever HE wanted - - - to explain: the gallery who represented his art, at that time, was telling him WHAT and HOW to paint, with threats of ‘law-suits’ if he did not comply.
WELL!! Nicola was always “his own man” - - - so “L’Atelier Simbari” became his ‘show-case’, for 10 years. Hard work for me, and a very “new” experience - - - I loved it. I loved meeting the diverse ‘Simbari lovers’ who came into the elegant ‘homely’ space, I had created, with the help of our daughter, Jenny.
Jenny was amazing . . . she hung the works with great style and love . . . she ‘talked’ with the people who came to visit, and helped me arrange the various ‘events’ we “staged”. These events seemed to attract the “rich and famous” of New York, of then, and were much talked about - - I had my “Stage” !!! as well as showing the paintings I loved.
What was Nicola ‘doing’ ? Good question !! Which explains why he ‘disappeared’ from ‘the Art scene’, once I had closed the Atelier, in 1990. There was nothing I seemed able to “do” . . . he was bent on self-destruction! . . and has succeeded - - -
BUT . . . his works and Spirit can NEVER disappear . . . THEY are a Gifted Artist’s LEGACY . . . filled with JOY and COLOUR and LIFE . . . not about their monetary ‘worth’ . . . but about what they bring/give to The Viewer - - - I have seen the total “enjoyment” of the visitors to L’Atelier Simbari . . . MOVING – EXCITING – giving UNDENIABLE PLEASURE.
Perhaps the biggest ‘compliment’ to Simbari’s MAGIC was from a young Stock-broker, who used to visit L’Atelier regularly - - after sitting in one of the ‘comfortable’ chairs for about an hour, he would get up and say “Thank you! I feel refreshed! I’ve just been on holiday!” - - - a bigger ‘compliment’ he could not have given! Did he buy anything? I hear you ask! Not then . . . maybe later, when he became a “rich Stock-broker” !!!
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