Bruno Cattani started working with photography in 1982 and in 1988 he became a photojournalist.
In 1996 he took part in a photographic research on Reggio Emilia Museums, beginning his study of the places of art. Over the years he received numerous commissions from international museums such as Musée Rodin, Musée du Louvre, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Instituto Nazionale della Grafica in Rome, Berlin Pergamon Museum and Soprintendenza archeologica in Pompei. In 2000 he took part in the group exhibition D’après l’Antique at the Musée du Louvre and, in the same year, his exhibition L’arte dei luoghi is included in the program of the Mois de la Photo in Paris. In 2002 his solo exhibition Figure nel tempo was curated by Walter Guadagnini at the Galleria Civica in Modena. In 2003 he exhibited some of his photographs that have been commissioned by the Musée Rodin in Paris in the exhibition Camille Claudel. Anatomie della vita interiore curated by Sandro Parmiggiani at Palazzo Magnani, Reggio Emilia.
In 2005 he started a long term project about memory, in which he evokes the emotional past through very intimate and narrative images. In 2008 he exhibited his work at Fotografia Europea festival in Reggio Emilia. In the spring of 2010 he presented the exhibition Memorie with a the catalogue curated by Sandro Parmeggiani and published by Allemandi.
Cattani was selected by Italo Zannier as one of the artists invited to exhibit at the Italian Pavilion of the 54th Biennale di Venezia with six photographs from the series Memorie.
His project Eros, dedicated to bodily forms in statuary, was the result of years of research and it was proposed for the first time at the Chic Art Fair in Paris in 2012. In his last work Sognare giocando he investigates the imaginary world of childhood and toys. The series was presented at Arte Fiera Bologna 2013 and Mia 2014in Milan.
In 2014 a new edition of Memorie, with a new chapter and some new photographs, was published by Danilo Montanari Editore in the occasion of the exhibitions at Bugno Art Gallery in Venice and Spilimbergo festival.
Cattani’s photographs are part of some international museums’ collections such as Archives photographiques du Musée du Louvre (Paris), Maison Européenne de la Photographie (Paris), The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (New York), Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples), Bibliotheque Nationale de France (Paris), Musee Reattu (Arles), Musée de la photographie (Charleroi), Musée Nicephore Niépce (Chalon sur Saône).