Italian gallerist and collector Fernanda Bonino was one of those rare figures whose influence spans continents, cultures, and social circles. Born in 1927 in Turin, Italy, but very much a citizen of the world, her legacy amongst the New York art cognoscenti is illustrious, and she is famed for her dinner parties as equally as her commitment to her artists.

Following the untimely death of her first husband, Fernanda, then 23, was encouraged by her mother-in-law to move to Rome to work at her brother’s art gallery. In 1961, Fernanda traveled to the São Paulo Biennial, where a business dinner with the renowned gallerist Alfredo Bonino crescendoed with a marriage proposal. The now historic Bonino Gallery was an avant-garde space that had simultaneous venues in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and New York. In addition to the galleries, Bonino was a prolific publishing house for catalogues. Soon after Alfredo and Fernanda met, the leadership of the Rio gallery fell to Alfredo’s first wife, Giovanna, while Alfredo and Fernanda led the charge of the galleries in Buenos Aires and New York.

Opened in 1963, Bonino Gallery New York was originally located at 7 West 57th Street and held over 50 exhibitions at its first location. Fernanda took her mission as a gallerist seriously, ensuring her artists had a space to express themselves, and providing many with a monthly wage; to her this was not a mere vanity project.

She gave a platform to artists across disciplines and nationalities, hosting Nam June Paik’s first solo exhibition and championing the work of Mary Bauermeister who would ultimately become a lifelong friend. Today, the gallery is synonymous with names such as Robert Breer, Fletcher Benton, Ronald Mallory, Agostino Bonalumi, Paolo Scheggi, Mario Ceroli, Armando Morales, and Marcelo Bonevardi, to name a few. In 1964, the gallery organized an important exhibition called Magnet: New York, which would later be recognized as a groundbreaking exhibition for Latin American art.

Between Fernanda and Alfredo’s extensive social circles, the couple held court. Joe Hirshhorn, David and Nelson Rockefeller, Leonard Lauder, Günther Oppenheimer, Harry Abrams, Leo Castelli, Alfred Barr, Harry Belafonte, John Lennon, major collectors, celebrities, and curious poseurs alike, all gathered faithfully at each new vernissage. As is usually a marker for a successful gallerist, acknowledged by all and achieved by few, most of the artists she worked with are now housed in permanent museum collections across the world.

The apartment Fernanda shared with Alfredo in NoHo on Great Jones Street would ultimately become the embodiment of their 1970s maximalist aesthetic, an echo of a bygone era when New York City was known as a place where one could thrive living an unconventional lifestyle. As reflected in the diversity of the gallery’s artist roster, Fernanda adored hosting parties in their home, often for over 100 people, making no distinction of who she socialized with—be it the artists at her gallery, collectors, or neighbors in her building.

Ever the Italian, she placed great emphasis on meals and cooking for her guests, sharing recipes all known by heart, passed to her by her mother. The walls of the space were covered in art and souvenirs collected from her extensive travels, the kitchen was constructed by hand by one of the artists she had shown at the gallery, and the living room featured built-in speaker cabinets and a state-of-the-art LP sound system to envelop the space in music. Indeed, it is easy to picture the stories still told by her friends and loved ones, including the tale of Robert Rauschenberg sleeping on the couch one evening after a particularly lively event because he could not make it home to his apartment down the street.

Following the death of Alfredo and eventual closure of the gallery, Fernanda kept her finger on the pulse of the international art market, continuing to champion the work of Latin American artists alongside fellow gallerist Mary-Anne Martin. The two women were early supporters of Frida Kahlo’s work, at a time when the artist was not the ubiquitous icon that she is today.

Fernanda went on to visit over 160 countries, always making a point to pass through Rome to visit her family. New York remained her home base, where she lived as raconteur-ambassador of sorts, telling tales of her city that once was, but remained very much alive in her home. Presented across nine auctions are fabulous works of art that Fernanda kept in her storied Great Jones Street apartment and bore witness to her fantastic life.