Some Highlights of the John Cadel Art Gallery and Savoia

Vatican Exhibit in the Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia
 
John Cadel’s”The Emigrants” is the signature painting in the art gallery which bears his name. Cadel taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and was a prolific book illustrator, writer, and teacher. John Bucci designed the Gallery and along with Father August Feccia did all the manual labor to create the "white space" to show off the art.

This wood carved Madonna and Child is in the style and color of Siena artisans. Its exact origins are unknown but art appraisers judge it to be several hundred years old.

This bust of Congressman Frank Annuzio was executed in bronze by Mario Spampinato. The Chicago Congressman was the strongest congressional supporter of Columbus Day as a Federal Holiday. For more than 30 years he was the voice of Chicago Italians in the US House of Representatives.
Another acquisition of Father Feccia, this porcelain-ceramic bust of Leonardo Da Vinci captures the wisdom and inventiveness of the original “Renaissance Man.” It was in the period of the 1400s and 1500s that Italy and then all of Europe was re-awakened to theart, science, and culture of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

The murals that you see in the Italian Cultural Center are the work of Francesco Ribaudo. Hewas born in 1931 in Naples, Italy, the third of seven children of Bianca Sorrentino and Luigi Ribaudo, an accomplished artist who in turn had learned his trade at the side of his father, Benedetto. Despite his artist's inclination toward flamboyance and overstatement – and coolness toward the typical conservatism of the church – Francesco became a favorite of the Chicago archdiocese. His skills were in demand soon after his arrival in America and he was commissioned to do portraits of John Cardinal Cody, the mother of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin and many others.

World –renowned sculptor Virginio Ferrari grew up in Verona and moved to Chicago as a young man. For the past 40 years his works have graced our City as well as his native Verona. This metal sculpture is a moquette, or proposal, for a giant unrealized memorial to Mayor Richard J. Daley which was to have been erected in the lobby of the Daley Civic Center.

To arrange a visit to the art treasures of the Italian Cultural Center at Casa Italia call 708 345 5933.