Antonio Frasconi
American, born Argentina, 1919 - 2013Self-Portrait, Washington Square, 1952
Not on view
Woodcut on paper
Dimensions17 11/16 × 67 in. (44.9 × 170.2 cm)
Gift of Mr. Jack B. Pierson in memory of Mr. Robert Martin Purcell, 1979.223
Antonio Frasconi was born in Argentina to Italian parents. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Uruguay where, as a teenager, Frasconi drew political cartoons for the weekly publication Marcha. Frasconi came to the United States in 1945 to study with Yasuo Kunioshi at the Art Students League in New York. He brought his mastery of the woodcut to a level of consummate skill and exerted considerable influence on the tradition of printmaking in the United States. His technical accomplishments were always employed to express his interests, enthusiasms, rages and allegiances. Frasconi stated, “There is always something to say about what is real in our lives...I always wanted to communicate in my work what is dearest to me. Not death, but life itself, and the greatness is just being alive.”
