Tribute to Antonio Rocchi (1916-2005)

Location: NiArt, Piazza Anastagi 4/A
Period: From 10 October
By: Felice Nittolo
Opening: 10 October

The NiArt Gallery, following the path already taken some years ago discovering some of the master mosaicists of the nineteen hundreds in Ravenna, is taking part in RavennaMosaico, the first International Contemporary Mosaic Festival, with an exhibition dedicated to the work of Antonio Rocchi, "Dialogues in Light". In addition to the exhibition set up in the gallery of niArt in via Anastagi 4/6 a publication edited by a Felice Nittolo will be presented which deals with the life and art of the master artist from Ravenna.
Antonio Rocchi, who learned his art through the restoration of Byzantine mosaics in the basilicas of Ravenna, produced works of the first order, winning international competitions and collaborating with major contemporary artists from Gino Severini to Marc Chagall.
In 1948 he was one of the founders of the "Mosaicist Group" of the Fine Arts Academy of Ravenna:  (S. Cicognani, L. Guardigli, I. Medici, L. Melano, Z. Molducci, I. M. Berti, L. Musiani, R. Papa, G. Salietti, R. Signorini, S. Spartà, G. Ventura) which for fifty years worked in Ravenna the Capital of Mosaics producing works of international interest. Antonio Rocchi was the cultural element in the group, he designed, produced drawings and painted. In 1961 he was called on to teach at the State Art Institute for Mosaics of Ravenna where he was the director until 1977. After those years he devoted himself entirely to painting producing numerous works now present in public and private collections in Italy and abroad. He won some mosaic competitions with his projects in the form of "cartoons" and often produced in collaboration with the mosaicist Ines Morigi Berti (to whom niArt has already dedicated an exhibition and a publication two years ago). Some of the competitions which he won include the one for the mosaic decoration of the columns of the Chamber of commerce of Ravenna (1956), the competition announced by the Province of Ravenna in 1963 for the decoration of the new building for the "G. Ginanni" Institute in via Carducci. Another was for the façade of the Pro Civitate museum of Assisi, the so-called Cittadella.
He produced some mosaics for Gino Severini including those on display at the Biennial of Venice in 1950. For Marc Chagall he produced the mosaic which is now in the "Contemporary Artists' Mosaics" collection of the MAR.