Carlo Cantini: A Photographer's Journey Through Florence's Avant-Garde
Carlo Cantini, who was born in Florence in 1936, initiated his professional journey in the 1950s at Fotoincisione Florentia, where he reproduced artworks for SeleArte. Following the Florence flood in 1966, he connected with gallerist Piero Pananti and captured images of 300 artworks for an auction. By the late 1960s, he established a studio in Palazzo Frescobaldi, serving antiquarians and galleries. The gallery Schema launched in 1972, succeeded by Art/tapes/22 in 1973 and Zona in 1974. Cantini worked alongside artists such as Remo Salvadori and documented Giuseppe Chiari's performances. He photographed Alberto Burri's exhibition in 1980 and collaborated with Mario Ceroli. His personal projects feature neorealist photographs of Florence, the conceptual series Hotel Porta Rossa, and L'isola ritrovata.
Key facts
- Carlo Cantini was born in Florence in 1936.
- He worked at Fotoincisione Florentia, reproducing artworks for SeleArte.
- He met Piero Pananti after the 1966 Florence flood.
- He opened his first studio in Palazzo Frescobaldi.
- He collaborated with Remo Salvadori, creating a Janus bifrons photograph in 1974.
- He photographed Alberto Burri's exhibition at Orsanmichele in 1980.
- He has worked with Base – Progetti per l'arte since 1998.
- His series Hotel Porta Rossa (1974-75) is a conceptual work on absence.
Entities
Artists
- Carlo Cantini
- Adriano Olivetti
- Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti
- Piero Pananti
- Alberto Moretti
- Roberto Cesaroni
- Raul Dominguez
- Superstudio
- Maria Gloria Bicocchi
- Remo Salvadori
- Maurizio Nannucci
- Renato Ranaldi
- Andrea Granchi
- Marco Bagnoli
- Sandro Chia
- Pier Luigi Tazzi
- Silvio Loffredo
- Alfonso Gatto
- Giuseppe Chiari
- Luciano Ori
- Lucia Marcucci
- Eugenio Miccini
- Lamberto Pignotti
- Alberto Burri
- Mario Ceroli
- Paolo Parisi
- Paolo Masi
- Massimo Bartolini
- Mario Airò
- Enrico Vezzi
- Vittorio Cavallini
- Yuki Ichihashi
- Primo Conti
- Maria Novella Conti
- Rodolfo Siviero
- Giorgio Castelfranco
- Leo Castelli
- Ugo Mulas
- Armando Nocentini
- Giulio Carlo Argan
- Achille Bonito Oliva
- Aldo Rostagno
- Christa Wolf
- Annamaria Amonaci
- Angela Madesani
- Greta Valente
- Walker Evans
- Duane Michals
- Mario Cresci
- Giuseppe Turroni
Institutions
- Fotoincisione Florentia
- SeleArte
- Galleria Pananti
- Galleria Santacroce
- Galleria Spagnoli
- Schema
- Art/tapes/22
- Zona
- Area
- Exempla
- Base – Progetti per l'arte
- Casa Museo Rodolfo Siviero
- Museo Novecento
- Biennale Internazionale d’Arte Premio del Fiorino
- Biennale di Venezia
- Unione Fiorentina
- Biennale Internazionale della Grafica
- Palazzo Strozzi
- Teatro Invisibile
- Galleria Marconi
- Silvana Editoriale
- Artribune
Locations
- Florence
- Italy
- Via Santo Spirito
- Diladdarno
- San Frediano
- Palazzo Frescobaldi
- Via della Vigna Nuova
- Via San Niccolò
- Battistero
- Milan
- Grenoble
- France
- New York
- United States
- Manhattan
- Orsanmichele
- Città di Castello
- Bologna
- Via dei Renai
- Barbarano Romano