Giovanni Verna

Engraver

He was born in Turin on November 1942, he lives and works in Quagliuzzo in the Canavese area.
Graduated from the Albertina Academy of Turin, student, for graphics, of Francesco Franco and for the painting of Francesco Casorati. He held xylography courses at the International School of Art Graphics Il Bisonte in Florence. For years he dedicated himself to intaglio, finally choosing xylography as expressive method, founding with Gianfranco Schialvino the New Woodblock "operative double room" as Angelo Dragone defined it: it started in 1987 to promote and re-evaluate the oldest form of printing. Since 1997, the New Xylography publishes: Smens, the only magazine still printed with lead characters and directly from the specially engraved original woods to which important scholars, writers, poets and artists collaborate. He has held solo shows in Italy, in Europe and in North and South America. He is the author of: TORINO woodcuts, 1988; The black cat, 1997; Puellae, 1998; Eros, 1999; Batracomiomachia, 2011.
Works in the collections of: Gam, Turin; Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; Uffizi Print Cabinet, Florence; Woodcut Museum, Carpi; National Institute for Graphics, Rome; Vatican Apostolic Library, Vatican City; Museo Nacional del Grabado, Buenos Aires; Estense Library, Modena; National Library, Florence; Bertarelli Print Collection, Milan; Cabinet des Estampes et des Dessins, Liège; Casa Leopardi, Recanati.