Antonio Cannata Biography
A self-taught painter, he made his debut in 1920 in Naples, where he had moved and where he experienced widespread popularity, immediately entering the climate of the city's artistic culture. During his career he participated in three Venice Biennials (1930 - with Fondaco rustico, headquarters of the Banco di Napoli; 1934 - with two pastels; 1936 - with a painting) and ordered many solo exhibitions in numerous Italian cities: 1928, Rome - Calabrian Association, with fifty works; 1932, Reggio Calabria - with thirty-one works, including Marina di Ostia, Calabrian rustic houses, Pagliaia della Piana, Lake Como, Cortile di Caivano; early 1930s, Naples - Compagnia degli Illusi, with presentation in the catalog by Salvatore Di Giacomo; 1933, Catanzaro - Hall of the Town Hall (X Exhibition of the painter AC), with thirty works, including Clouds on the Aspromonte, Calabrian farmyard, Mountains of Cittanova, Arch of Titus, Valle del Bufalo (Sila), Rustic houses of Polistena, The Dolomites, Monte S. Elia (Palmi), Cittanova Mountains, Anoia seen from Polistena, Via del Ponte Vecchio, Sunset on Lake Patria, with a catalog containing critical opinions by Francesco Jerace, Vincenzo Gemito (“I express myself this way about your works : sensitive and loving pastels for what is produced in our era"); 1934, Cosenza - New headquarters of the Cosenza Academy (XI Exhibition of the AC painter, dedicated to Michele Bianchi), with forty-four works, including Sunset in the Sila Piccola, Aspetti dell'Ampollino, Vesuvius, Una via di Polistena, Il castello di San Giorgio Morgeto, Flower meadow Venice, Marina di Pozzuali (sic), Naples botanical garden, Fruit, In the villa of Catanzaro, Pond, Old vine, Fish, Spring. He also exhibited abroad, Paris, New York, Brussels, always achieving good success by virtue of the high quality of his painting, always linked to the simplest motifs of romantic life and thanks above all to the colour, elegant, soft and sweet. In 1932 the artist's studio, in via Foria in Naples, was visited by the poet Libero Bovio, who wrote about Cannata's art: “He is an ancient, this painter, who has a modern sensibility. He was present at the 2nd Polistena Art Exhibition in 1955 with two Landscapes. Some of his works in the Palmi Museum and in the Polistena Town Hall. The Case del Calvario pastel was purchased by the national government for the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. There are numerous works in private collections, especially in Calabria and Rome.
