Australian cafe in which The Beatles and Al Pacino dined to auction off 200 items of artwork as it closes down

a group of people sitting at a table in a restaurant: Italian restaurant Lucio’s in Sydney will auction off the art collection adorning its walls which is almost as famous as the food. Photo: Getty Images

Italian restaurant Lucio’s in Sydney will auction off the artwork selection adorning its partitions which is nearly as popular as the foodstuff. Picture: Getty Photographs

Lucio’s, the famous Italian restaurant in Sydney that is placing up the shutters for great, is likely to be keeping a closing-down sale with a variance at the conclusion of February.

The 37-calendar year-old institution the place The Beatles, Al Pacino and Mikhail Gorbachev have all dined will auction off the 200 artworks that have been hanging on its Tuscan yellow partitions on February 28.

The assortment is a testimony to the near friendships amongst proprietor Lucio Galletto and a lot of of Australia’s greatest-known fashionable and present-day artists, and it has produced Lucio’s a cultural desired destination as a great deal as a location for hugely rated northern Italian cuisine.

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Auctioneer Bonhams has but to launch the catalogue of the sale but it says the selection attributes performs by John Olsen, Elisabeth Cummings, Luke Sciberras, Garry Shead, Ann Thomson, Hilarie Mais, John Coburn, Tim Storrier and Sidney Nolan.

a group of people sitting at a table: Lucio Galletto in front of a set of 35 plates that 35 Australian artists have painted for his restaurant. Photo: Courtesy of Lucio's

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Lucio Galletto in entrance of a established of 35 plates that 35 Australian artists have painted for his cafe. Photo: Courtesy of Lucio’s

It all started in 1984, a 12 months soon after Galletto and his wife, Sally, moved their youthful small business to the leafy Sydney suburb of Paddington. Nolan – whose landscapes in the lobby of Hong Kong’s Trade Square in Central will be familiar to numerous in the city – on a go to to the cafe drew a sketch of renowned Australian bushranger Ned Kelly in a table buy notepad, and Galletto was so delighted with it he shown it in the cafe in a gold-leaf-covered body.

Considering that then, the cafe has been crammed to the brim with paintings, drawings and sculptures that the Gallettos purchased or were being specified – and a distinctive set of painted plates. In 1998, Galletto invited 15 Australian artists to paint on ceramic plates to rejoice the restaurant’s 15th anniversary. With just about every passing yr, a new plate was additional.

a person sitting at a table in a room: Art at Lucio's. Photo: Courtesy of Lucio's

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Artwork at Lucio’s. Photograph: Courtesy of Lucio’s

John Olsen holding a sign posing for the camera: Artist John Olsen (left) and Galletto in 2011, with Galletto holding Olsen's design for his dessert menu. Photo: Courtesy of Lucio's

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Artist John Olsen (still left) and Galletto in 2011, with Galletto holding Olsen’s structure for his dessert menu. Image: Courtesy of Lucio’s

“Meals and artwork for me is like the air that I breathe,” Galletto the moment wrote. “I grew up in the household restaurant in Italy wherever we experienced an artwork gallery, so it has constantly been in my blood. It is incredibly important for me individually and also, I assume for our clients as well.”

This may not be the finish of the restaurant, however. The relatives instructed area media that they offered the making in advance of the Covid-19 pandemic and are on the lookout for a new handle to restart Lucio’s. Possibly a new crop of Australian artists will see their will work grace people partitions.

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This short article at first appeared on the South China Morning Publish (www.scmp.com), the leading information media reporting on China and Asia.