Raymer Society Consignment Art Auction
Lot 33:
Description
Mastro-Valerio, Alessandro (1887-1953) In the Space, 1944 wood engraving, pencil signed in lower right, good condition, no mat or frame, in The Woodcut Society folder, image size: 6 x 7.5 inches. Alessandro Mastro-Valerio was born in Italy, was educated at the Salvador Rosa Institute in Naples, Italy (1906-1912), and came to the U.S. in 1913. He settled in Chicago, and after a brief period as a commercial artist, established a portrait studio near the Loop. Among his patrons were the industrialists Harvey S. Firestone and Anheuser Busch.He moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1919 and received a mural commission the following year from the Ypsilanti National Bank. Mastro-Valerio taught at Ypsilanti Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) during the summers of 1922 and 1923. He was also on the part-time faculty at the University of Michigan (1924-26) where, after a trip to Italy in 1927, he was appointed to the full-time faculty.In addition to portraits and murals, his oeuvre includes landscapes, seascapes, and figure studies in oil and watercolor. He is best known for his mezzotint* prints, particularly his female nudes. His work helped to revive mezzotint as an artistic medium in the United States.A member of the Ann Arbor Art Associate, the Chicago Society of Etchers*, the Society of Design (Associate 1951), he retired from the University of Michigan in 1952. He died in Ann Arbor in 1953.
Condition: good condition, no mat or frame
Dimensions: 16 x 13 in
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