Earth & Ether: The Art of Lucille and Virgil Cantini

This exhibition brings together the work of Pittsburgh artists Virgil and Lucille Cantini. Virgil Cantini (1919–2009) is best known for his abstract sculptures and murals on the University of Pittsburgh campus and throughout the city. The exhibition also shines light on the career of Lucille Cantini (1921–2008), an accomplished artist and educator in her own right, whose work has often been overshadowed by her husband’s more public reputation. The works in this show reveal their shared interests in the details of the natural world and in realms beyond the visible.  

Curated by students in the Spring 2025 Curatorial Development and Fall 2025 Exhibition Presentation classes of the Museum Studies program, Department of History of Art and Architecture.  

Presented by the University Art Gallery with generous support from the Marstine Family Foundation. Special thanks to Lisa Cantini-Seguin and Jim Seguin, the Senator John Heinz History Center and the Thomas & Katherine Detre Library & Archives.