Cosimo Sponziello Biography
Cosimo Sponziello was born in Tuglie on 27 September 1915 to a Tugliese father, Giovanni, and a Lombard mother, Maria Mainardi. The second of six children, Cosimo began working as a photographer at Alfredo Stefanelli's studio in Gallipoli. At the end of March 1935 he was called to perform military service at the Specialist School of the Air Force in Capua, as an airman photographer. After four months of the course he was transferred to Grottaglie airport. In 1939 he was discharged and resumed his work as a photographer, but his true vocation was painting, which he began to cultivate. In April 1941 he left for Milan and found work at the "Foto Veneta" photography studio; at the same time he enrolled in the evening painting courses of the Artifici of the Brera Academy. In 1942 he found work with the photographer Petri, but the following year, due to the Allied bombing of Milan, he returned home to be a full-time photographer and to paint the characteristic landscapes of his homeland. In 1945 he moved to San Simone, a hamlet of Sannicola, and remained here until June 1953. Then he left for Monza to teach drawing at the Art School of that city and subsequently at the "Scuola Libera del Nudo" of the Brera Academy. Thirty-six years will pass before he returns to his old house in San Simone, where he will spend his last years of work and life. Cosimo Sponziello has participated in numerous exhibitions, among the most important we remember: the Quadrennials of Rome and the Nationals of Milan (at the Permanente); various Michetti Awards, the Maggio of Bari, the Figurative Arts Exhibition of Naples; the Marzotto Prize; the Port of Naples Award; the Suzzara Prize; the "Angelicum" Sacred Art Exhibition in Milan, the Verona Biennale, and others. Among the many personal exhibitions, those of the Circolo Cittadino of Lecce, Galleria "Le Grazie" of Milan, Galleria Ghelfi of Verona, Galleria della Torre of Bergamo, Galleria "La Cornice" of Legnano, and others should be remembered. Among the various prizes received: "Pomarici Santomasi" painting prize from Gravina di Puglia; Award for the Apulian Landscape at the National Exhibition "Maggio di Bari"; "Valli Bergamasche" Award of Milan; Gold medal "Colours of Lunigiana" from Sarzana; 1st prize at the "Menaggio Prize" for painting in 1966; Gold medal from the Municipality of Milan at the National Exhibition "Our Po" 1969; VI Quadrennial of Art in Rome; and others.
