Book Presentation of Trading Beauty: Market Histories from the Altar to the Gallery

Valentina Castellani has held leading roles at Sotheby’s and Gagosian and worked as an independent dealer. As deputy director at Sotheby’s in London and New York, she helped launch the inaugural 20th-Century Italian Sale, securing key artworks from major collections. As senior director at Gagosian in New York, she spearheaded acclaimed exhibitions dedicated to Francis Bacon, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni, and Pablo Picasso, among others. Castellani is an adjunct professor in NYU Steinhardt’s Master’s program in Visual Arts Administration. Her book Trading Beauty: Art Market Histories from the Altar to the Gallery will be published by Gagosian in April 2026, with an Italian edition to be released by Allemandi Editore. Valentina sits on the board of the Casa Italiana Zerilli-Marimò of NYU and is co-chair of the board of trustees of The Drawing Center in New York.

Michael Cary organizes exhibitions for Gagosian, including thirteen Picasso exhibitions in cooperation with the late Sir John Richardson and members of the Picasso family. Cary also organized Manzoni: A Retrospective with Germano Celant (NYC, 2009), Manzoni: Azimut (London, 2012), Francis Bacon: Late Paintings (NYC, 2015), The Street: curated by Peter Doig (NYC, 2024) and Jasper Johns Between the Clock and the Bed (2026). He joined the gallery in 2008 after six years in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. He is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he studied painting and filmmaking.