1909 b. February 19th. in Milan. An American Surrealist Painter and Sculptor of Italian birth. Studied sociology at the Universite degli Studi, Pavia. 1930's Living Paris, avant-garde composer. Formal art training at the Ecole de la rue de Berri. 1934 m. Claire Javal. Visits to America to study Native American culture and to collect their artifacts. 1939 Moved to New York with his wife and their daughters, Marina and Sylvian. 1941 The Peach Friendship with Camilo Egas and exhibited at his gallery at Manhattan's New School for Social Research. Meets the art historian Lionello Venturi -> who introduces him to Breton. 1942 Meets Andre Breton; joins Surrealists. 1942 - 1943 became interested in alchemy and came to know and collaborate with Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Roberto Matta, Alexander Calder and Marcel Duchamp. 1944 Third New York exhibition with catalogue piece by Andre Breton. 1945 Collaborated with Marcel Duchamp on the installation of a window display at Brentano's New York bookstore for the second edition of Breton's book Le Surrealisme et la peinture which included a chapter dedicated to Donati's painting. 1946 Fist
1947 Provides original artwork for the catalogue of Le Surrealisme en 1947 or Please Touch at Galerie Maeght, Paris. Collaborates with Marcel Duchamp on design and production of the cover. See See ->. La Plume de ma tante ->. 1959 designed a perfume bottle for the relaunch of the fragrance Fougere Royale by Houbigant. The perfumier, established in the 18th century, was at the time owned by his wife's family. 1960's Donati bought the company outright. 1978? The company revived and valued at $50m. 1965 Divorced. m. Adele Schmidt (one daughter). 2008? d. April 5th. in Manhattan from complications bought on after a taxi accident. See work -> and wiki ->. See Retrospective catalogue -> work ->. See Weinstein Gallery ->. See Timeline