Biography

Born in Venice, the second of three children of Romeno Zennaro and Italia. His father lost his job as a municipal clerk for refusing to join the Fascist party. He attended the Armando Diaz primary school and later a vocational school for apprentice mechanics at the Arsenale of Venice. At eighteen he was hired by the State Railways, where he remained until 1970. From 1971 he was professor of modelling — appointed for distinguished merit — at the State Art High School (Liceo Artistico Statale) of Venice, where he taught until 1991.

His artistic activity began early: from 1953 to 1965 he took part in all the group sculpture exhibitions of the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, and in 1955 he won first prize from the City of Venice. From 1959 he took part in the International Bronzetto competitions in Padua, up to the 1970s. In 1961 he was the only Italian invited to the European Symposium of Sculpture in Austria. In 1966 he produced a marble work for the Henraux International Museum. In 1968 he won the National Competition for a sculpture to be installed in a school building in Rosolina (province of Rovigo). In 1969 he won the National Competition for a sculpture to be installed in a school building in Sant’Alberto di Ravenna. From the 1960s he was followed by the critic Giuseppe Marchiori who, in 1970, introduced him to the gallery owner Luciano Ravagnan. In 1972 he was invited to the 36th International Art Biennale of Venice (graphic art of today). In 1973 he took part in the 10th National Quadriennale of Art in Rome (the position of non-figurative art) and, the following year, in the 10th International Biennale of Mediterranean Art (Alexandria, Egypt).

A series of solo exhibitions followed: Venice, Milan (Pietra Gallery), Genoa (Rotta Gallery), the Graphic Gallery in Palm Springs (California), Bologna (La Loggia Gallery), Milan (Falchi Gallery), Munich (Eichinger Gallery) and New York (Randall Galleries). In 1977 he took part in Arte Fiera in Bologna, Art Expo New York 1979, Wash Art 79, Expo Art ’79 in Bari, Art Expo 1980 at the Coliseum in New York, Art 12 1981 in Basel (Switzerland), Arteder 1982 (Bilbao) and the Shada Gallery (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). In 1984 he created a 10-metre-high sculpture to be placed in front of the Provinzial building in Münster (Germany). In 1990 he made a 4-metre-high sculpture, now in Ireland, donated by the Italian Ambassador Dr. Francesco Carlo Gentile. In 1992 he took part in the Osaka International Art Triennale for sculpture and won the Japanese Railways prize. In 1993 he took part in the Osaka International Art Triennale for painting, and in 1994 in the Osaka International Art Triennale for graphic art. Three of his sculptures are held in the Museum of Modern Art at Ca’ Pesaro in Venice and one at the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. Besides Giuseppe Marchiori, who followed his work with careful critical analysis until 1980, other critics have studied his work, among them Giulio Carlo Argan, Toni Toniato, Elda Fezzi, Pierre Restany, Lara Vinca Masini, Enrico Crispolti, Umbro Apollonio and Maria Luisa Pavanini, who has analysed and followed his work since 1970.