Ennio Calabria was born in Tripoli the 7 march 1937.
In 1958 he had his first personal exhibition at the gallery “La Feluca” in Rome. He was then revealed by the art critics as one of most significant painters of the 1950-60’s generation, as a testimony of his time painting with a look towards the social and existential territories. In 1961 together with the painters Attardi, Farulli, Gianquinto, Guccione and Vespignani, and the critics Del Guercio, Micacchi and Morosini, he creates the group “Il pro e il contro” that becomes a strong reference point for the new figurative researches in Italy. In 1964 he is invited to the Biennale Internazionale d’Arte of Venice. His first anthological exposition was in 1985 at the Rotonda della Besana, Milan. Two years later he held one at Castel Sant’Angelo, Rome. In this occasion a thorough monograph with texts of M. De Micheli, G. Carandente, (2° edition with texts of G. Carandente and D. Micacchi) was edited by Vangelista, Milan. In 1990 retrospective was set up in the Church del Carmine at Taormina (Calabria Opere 1980-1990, Electa Ed.). Since the 1990 he creates the cycle Ambiguità dell’intravisto [Ambiguity of the glimpse] with the theme of the high velocity of the social changes in our times from which a continuous metamorphosis of the being arises. This emerges that ambiguous character of the shape that affirms itself and at the same time denies itself. The cycle was exhibited in various public and private spaces as: Baumgarte Galerie, Bielefeld (Germany), 1993; Palazzo dei Papi, Viterbo, 1994; Museum “R. Ridola”, Matera, 1996; Galleria Rotta, Genova. The pastel series Il mare accanto [The nearby sea] of the same years traced anticipatively the road of this new pictorial research. In 1998 he exposed at the ex-Birreria Peroni Lavori in corso [Works in progress] a series of exhibitions promoted by the Communal Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome. In 1999 the general catalogue was published as Opera incisoria [Engraving works] 1955-1996 with a historical-critical text of F. De Santi, investigation and scientific texts of L. Martini, edited by the Antique and Modern Stamps Cabinet, Bagnacavallo. A significant exposition of this late period is Sintassi della strada [Syntax of the road] at the National Archeological Museum, Chieti, with a monographic catalogue with texts of F. De Santi and of the philosopher A. Gianquinto, (Lalli editore). The monographic edition, together with the itinerant exposition, Quasi la forma- pastelli 1991-2003 [Almost the shape-pastels 1991-2003] with texts of M. Di Capua and A. Romoli was edited in 2003. In 2002-2005 the series of portraits inspired on John Paul II were painted and the first ten volumes published by Rendina Editori (2002): Ennio Calabria. La forma cerca forma [Ennio Calabria. The shape seeks shape], with a text of M. Tonelli, a preface of C. Rendina, and critical contributions of A. Gianquinto and I. Mitrano). The entire series was published in the catalogue of the exposition Ennio Calabria La forma cerca forma-verso le cose [Ennio Calabria The shape seeks shape-towards things], mounted in the Museum “Vittoria Colonna” of Pescara, at the Royal Palace of Caserta (2004) with texts of C. F. Carli, A. Romoli and A. M. Sessa, and at the Museum Archdiocesan Karol Wojtla, 2008. The Pope’s portraits represent an important moment for this long research that proceeds always with greater incisive power in the exploration of the instable character that the social relationships denote more and more and of the life of thought. On the pictorial language grounds this condition of disorientation is assumed by the artist as necessary for the costitution of different was of subjectivity that moves towards the identification of a shape that seeks shape. Since 2008 Calabria starts doing a new cicle of portraits giving them the title of Un volto e il tempo [A face and the time] which goes on until today. In the last years he realized other important exhibitions: La forma della percezione [The shape of perception] Magazzini del sale, Palazzo Pubblico di Siena (texts of Claudio Strinati, Gianmaria Nerli, De Luca ed. Roma, 2005); Latenze della luce [The latent light] Palazzo dei Normanni, Palermo 2005 (edited by Gabriele Simongini); La forma da dentro [The shape by inside] edited by F. De Santi (Vallecchi ed.) Civic Museums of Villa Paolina Bonaparte, Viareggio 2009; the Matalon Foundation Museum of Milan; the Trefoil Gallery of Chieti; Arte in Regola. Incontro con Ennio Calabria [Art in Rule. Meeting with Ennio Calabria], text by G. Simongini, Council of State, Palazzo Santacroce-Aldobrandini in Rome, (Gangemi editore, 2012); Ennio Calabria. Nei tempi, il tempo [Ennio Calabria. In time, the time], edited by Rita Pedonesi, the “U. Mastroianni “, Marino – RM, 2013. During his activity, Ennio Calabria has received many and prestigious awards (among the latest: Vittorio De Sica Prize 2006, under the high patronage of the President of the Republic, Quirinale, Rome; Goffredo Petrassi Prize, 2011, Auditorium, Rome). In 2017 the book by Ida Mitrano Ennio Calabria. Nella pittura la vita is published (Bordeaux editions) which reconstructs the plot of a path where life, thought and art have always been inseparable, a single corpus. For the first time, on the occasion of his eightieth birthday, Ennio Calabria, a historically recognized and culturally significant artist, is returned through these pages that reveal the unprecedented character of his creative process and the expressive and iconographic power of his painting. In December of the same year, at MACRO in Rome, the event Between words and images. Encounter with Ennio Calabria, in which the book by I. Mitrano and the film by Giulio Latini Ennio Calabria. The painting is told are presented. Apart from the Biennale of Venice (2011, International Biennale of art in Venice, Lazio Pavilion; 2015 International Guatemala Pavilion) and the Quadriennale of Rome, he has participated in many other important reviews that have proposed on international grounds the issues of Italian art from 1960 until today. He has produced 90 posters more or less: for the Orlando Furioso of L. Ronconi, for the ARCI, Lega Cooperative, UISP, CGIL, Fondazione Basso, etc. His works are in many private and public collections, as in: Metropolitan Theater of New York; Pushkin Museum, Moscow; Wroclaw Museum, Cracovia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sofia; Eliat Museum, Israel; Gucci Collection; Colombe d’Or, St. Paule de Vence, France; Comunal Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rome; Vatican’s Collection; The Civic Collection “A. Bertarelli”, Milan; Antique and Modern Stamps Cabinet, Bagnacavallo. He has been protagonist of the following films: Lotta contro i mostri [Fighting against the monsters], 1964, directed by Gigi di Gianni; Calabria: Due anni di Pittura [Calabria: two years of painting], directed by Mario Carbone; Visti da vicino: Ennio Calabria [Closing-up: Ennio Calabria], 1979, Renzo Bertoni, directed by Sergio Pastore; Artisti d’oggi [Today’s artists]. Program of Franco Simongini; Un pittore e la sua città [A painter and his city], directed by Roberto Locci; La città dentro [The city inside], 1987, directed by A. Cimaglia and A. Pedonesi; Ennio Calabria La forma cerca forma [Ennio Calabria The shape seeks shape], 2002, directed by A. Cimaglia e A. Pedonesi, interview of M. Tonelli; Ennio Calabria. La pittura si racconta [Ennio Calabria. The painting is told], directed by Giulio Latini, 2017.