Annapia Antonini was born in 1942 in Lugano Switzerland. After studying art in Switzerland she moved to Paris in 1962 and studied painting at L'Academie Julian and etching at Friedlaender's atelier.
Her first exhibition was held in 1964 in Switzerland, her second in Sweden in 1966, a third in 1967 at Le Bateau-Lavoir and in 1969 at Galerie Kieffer in Paris. Since then she has exhibited regularly throughout Europe and also in Japan and the USA. Her work is in many public and private collections.
Anthony Dawson writes of her work: "The poetic quality of Annapia Antonini's work has always appealed to me since I first discovered it. It is the poetry of everyday things used in a particuarly observant way - a dish of vegetables, a plate of fish, a few chairs - arranged in apparently random fashion. But in fact however ordinary the objects we find in her work their presence there and their arrangement in the composition are far from accidental. There is always a deliberate choice: the mundane object is placed in a way which opens our eyes to its less tangible qualities distilling for us the beauty of simple things and showing how they relate to us. The technique and the years of hard work which enable Annapia to express herself with such assurance never obtrude but as with all true artists there is a mastery of the medium which may seduce the senses but never leaves us in doubt that she knows exactly where she is going. The statement is direct but avoids being harsh; and yet the subtlety of colouring and the gentle expressiveness of line never cloy. We end up feeling that if we had ever been clever enough to think of the ideal way to immortalise a kitchen table or a child's toy this is exactly how we would have done it."