Cynthia Penna

Born in Naples - Italy 13/07/1953.

Cynthia Penna lives and works in Naples, Milan and Los Angeles.

She graduated in Jurisprudence at the University Federico II in Naples, Italy and from 1978 to 2004 worked as a magistrate mainly in Naples as an investigating judge and after a some years in the Court of Appeal, she attended the post of Inspector for the Ministry of Justice in Rome, resigning definitively from her job to follow her first passion and inspiration: Art.

The turning point came in 2007 when, after leaving the judiciary, she devoted herself totally to her passion that accompanied her for her whole life since the first high school studies in Art History with Professor Adriana Catalano. She continued to study, read and look at art history for her entire life by reading many texts, visiting hundreds museums of Art and History all around the world.

She followed photography courses with the photographer Gianni Cesarini in Naples in the 70ies; obtained a diploma in Antiques from the Popular University of Naples in 1992 and speaks fluently as well as Italian, French and English.

From the late 1990s she became a collector of contemporary art together with her husband, Avv. Renato Penna, and met artists, gallery owners, curators who opened up a different world from her cultural background in classical art.

Since 2006 she entered the world of Californian art, her second home, having the opportunity to get to know and penetrate the lively artistic world of Los Angeles.

In 2007 the definitive push for the foundation of the Cultural Institution ART1307 which acts as a bridge between Italy and California, two worlds not very much connected and almost unknown to each other. Over the years she has curated more than one hundred exhibitions in Italy and abroad for public and private institutions and for prestigious museums such as the Archaeological Museum of Naples, the Royal Palace of Caserta, the Musa Center at the Royal Palace of Portici, the Museum of Art and History of Lancaster, California, the Metropolitan Museum of Tokyo, the Municipality of Teglio, the Istituto Arte Japan in Milan, the Ambassade du Tourisme in France and many others. She gave dozens of conferences and lectures in many Universities and other institutions around the world.

Curatorial CV

Languages: Italian, English and French

Member of AAMC – The Association of Art Museum Curators
Member of Fractured Atlas
Member of IKT – International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art
Member of ACACIA Art Association of Milan Italy and donor of Museo del Novecento – Milan Italy
Membership at MOCA Museum Los Angeles
Membership at LACMA Museum Los Angeles
Membership at Hammer Museum Los Angeles
Patron of J. P. Getty Foundation Malibu
Member of Friends of Capodimonte Museum - Napoli