ENNIO TAMBURI was born in Jesi on 9 September 1936. He moved to Rome where he began his career in the 1950s, frequently staying in Paris and approaching the Informal. Numerous awards such as the Arezzo Award, the Maggio di Bari, the Prato Award, the Incontri d'Arte Award in Bologna and that of the Rome Quadrennial.

He exhibits in numerous group and personal exhibitions: Galleria il Punto, Turin 1973; Festival of the Two Worlds, Spoleto 1970; Venice Biennale, 1975; Palazzo dei Diamanti, Ferrara 1975; Galleria Due Mondi, Rome 1976; Gallery of Modern Art, Arezzo 1976; Galleria La Tartaruga, Rome 1976; Kunsthalle, Koln and Düsseldorf 1977; Salomon Gallery, Paris 1980; Temple University Rome and Philadelphia 1990; The Blaxland Gallery, New South Wales, Sydney 1992; Kunsthaus Richterswil, Zurich 1998; Anton Meier Galleries, Geneva 2003; Casanatense Library, Rome 2006; Lazertis Galerie, Zurich 2007; Museum of the Convent of San Giovanni, Müstair 2009; Fabriano Space, Milan 2008. 

Alongside his activity as a painter, he works as a set designer and draftsman, collaborating on the scenography of films by Luchino Visconti and Roman Polanski, drawing posters for the theatrical performances of Giorgio Strehler and Luca Ronconi. 

In 2012 the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome dedicated a major retrospective to him. He disappeared in Rome in 2018 at the age of 82.