Gallery On Greene
Key West, Florida Art Gallery

Henry La Cagnina

Gallery On Greene  is pleased to represent Henry La Cagnina.

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Fish	Vitrious Enamel E-17	Lacquer Panel #14
	Henry's son David has studied under him for decades developing his own unique style and techniques as well as carrying forward many of the unique techniques passed down by Henry.	David La Cagnina
David La Cagnina

Henry La Cagnina's love affair with Key West goes back 60 years. When the Great Depression shook our nation's economy in 1933, Key West was particularly hit hard with 85% of its people on relief. Wrecking and cigar making had come to an end. Key West was overpopulated and their was no space for industry or agriculture. Tourism was gearing up in South Florida, but it was focused on the wide white beaches. Enter the Works Progress Administration, or WPA.

To help restore the town's economy, the federal government, via the WPA, turned to a different kind of tourism for the Keys. Thirteen artists were chosen to share their visions of the unique cultural climate of the Keys with the rest of the country. And it worked. Key West became a showcase for cultural tourism. Today, there are more galleries and artist per capita than anywhere else in the country.

Henry LaCagnina was one of the thirteen artists eventually selected for this project. His career was in full swing then and has continued unabated till this day. The Gallery on Greene is extremely excited to represent an artist of this caliber and prestige. Over his 60 year career, La Cagnina has worked in many aspects of art. The fifth generation of Italian church painters, La Cagnina was raised in a tradition that required expertise in practical and fine art applications as well as varying media. He has applied this tradition over the course of his career. His posters encouraged the war effort along with those of 350 other invited artists were exhibited at the National Gallery in Washington, D. C. in 1943 and toured nationwide. His work has been collected by the Fords, Melons and others. La Cagnina has owned galleries, developed a reputation as a muralist, industrial designer, educator and art jurist as well as achieving ongoing success as a fine artist .

In the current work for The Gallery on Greene, La Cagnina demonstrates his classical training and the influences of his long career. Asked by gallery director Nance Frank to create works specifically for The Gallery on Greene, La Cagnina brings his breadth of experience to a subject often treated mundanely-the marine landscape-and raises it to high art.

In La Cagnina's capable hands, these marine tableaus become witty essays on cubism, surrealism and abstraction. Vividly colored, masterfully rendered, these mixed media paintings are exquisitely crafted. Few artists can make fresh a subject the way La Cagnina does, all the wile demonstrating the art movements of the modern age.

Henry's son David has studied under him for decades developing his own unique style and techniques as well as carrying forward many of the unique techniques passed down by Henry.

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