Born in 1911 in Paris, Émile Gilioli spent his childhood in Italy. He settled permanently in France in 1927. After attending evening classes at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Nice, he received a scholarship and passed the entrance exam for the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1931.

From 1945 onwards, he decisively embarked on the path of non-figurative creation alongside Deyrolle, Dewasne, Poliakoff, and Vasarely. He participated in various Salons (Réalités Nouvelles, Salon de Mai). He was notably a founding member of the Salon de la Jeune Sculpture in 1949 and vice-president of the group Espace led by André Bloc, Fernand Léger, and Le Corbusier. In 1957, he won the tapestry prize at the São Paulo Biennale.

From 1962 onwards, Émile Gilioli exhibited his sculptures at the Dina Vierny Gallery, which dedicated several solo exhibitions to him (Paintings and Gouaches 1988, Drawings and Sculptures 1991, Works on Paper 1999) and presented him at the FIAC in 1987 and 1999.

He was also commissioned for public works. The most dear to his heart was the realization of the National Monument of the Resistance at the Plateau des Glières, inaugurated in 1973 by André Malraux. With this impressive concrete work, Gilioli introduced the notion of architecture into sculpture.

"Marked by spiritual and purist tendencies of abstract art, [...] Gilioli will nevertheless oscillate in his work between the rigor of the sign and the serene sensuality of forms where angle and curve marry."

Michel Ragon

He left a considerable body of work. He is presented in numerous museums in France (Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris - Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes - Musée de Peinture et de Sculpture, Grenoble) and abroad (Tate Gallery, London - Royal Museums of Belgium, Brussels - Ostend Museum - Middelheim Park Open-Air Sculpture Museum, Antwerp - National Museum, Oslo - Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm - Helsingfors Kunsthall, Helsinki - Art Institute of Chicago - Museum of Art Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh - Museum of Modern Art, New York - Miami Museum of Modern Art - Seattle Art Museum - Milwaukee Art Center - Museum of Modern Art, Sao Paulo).

Olivier LORQUIN