Alessandro Mastro-Valerio
Morning Paper
1941

Name: Morning Paper
Brand: Alessandro Mastro-Valerio
Price: 720 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Alessandro Mastro-Valerio, 'Morning Paper', 1941, mezzotint, edition 350. Signed in pencil. A superb, richly-inked, luminous impression, on cream, wove paper, with wide margins (1 9/16 to 1 13/16 inches), in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards; unframed. 32nd Presentation Print of the Chicago Society of Etchers, 1941, with the Chicago Society of Etchers blindstamp in the bottom, left margin. ABOUT THE ARTIST Painter and printmaker Mastro-Valerio was educated at the Salvador Rosa Institute in Naples, Italy (1906-1912), and came to the United States in 1913. He settled in Chicago and after a brief period as a commercial artist, established a reputation as a portrait painter. Among his patrons were the industrialists Harvey S. Firestone and Anheuser Busch. Mastro-Valerio was also the owner and editor of the progressive magazine 'La Tribuna Transatlantica'. He wrote and published articles supporting the cause of Italian immigrants. He helped form the Giordano Bruno Club, which campaigned against the entrenched political and religious powers supporting the prevailing bias against Italian immigrants coming to the US at the turn of the century. Mastro-Valerio moved to Ypsilanti 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 portrait and murals, Mastro-Valerio’s oeuvre includes landscapes, seascapes, and figure studies in oil and watercolor. He is best known for his mezzotint prints of female nudes. His highly sensitive renderings achieved rich depth and luminosity, and his work contributed to the revival of the exacting mezzotint medium in the United States. Mastro-Valerio was a member of the Ann Arbor Art Association, the Chicago Society of Etchers, and the Society of Design (Associate 1951). He retired from teaching at the University of Michigan in 1952. Mastro-Valerio’s mezzotint nudes are in the following museum collections: Dallas Museum of Art, Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium, Library of Congress, Minneapolis Institute of Art, New York Public Library, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Creator:

Alessandro Mastro-Valerio (1889 - 1953)

Creation Year:

1941

Dimensions:

Height: 8.94 in (22.71 cm)Width: 5.57 in (14.15 cm)Depth: 0.01 in (0.26 mm)

Medium:

Mezzotint

Movement & Style:

American Realist

Period:

1940-1949