Antonio Frasconi
| Antonio Frasconi | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 April 1919 Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Residence | South Norwalk, Connecticut, United States[1] |
| Nationality | Uruguay |
| Occupation | Artist, Educator |
| Known for | Woodcuts |
| Spouse | Leona Pierce |
| Children | Pablo Frasconi, Miguel Frasconi |
| Parents | Franco and Armida (was Carbonai) |
Antonio Frasconi (born 28 April 1919) [1] is an artist known for his woodcuts. He has won a number of awards and illustrated over 100 books.[2] His major work took ten years to complete and is a series of woodcuts that illustrate "The Disappeared". The work illustrates real people who were tortured and killed in his home country of Uruguay [2] during the dictatorships that ended in 1985.[3]
[edit] Life
Frasconi was born in 28 April 1919 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, but he was brought up in Montevideo in Uruguay.[2] He had parents of Italian descent. They had moved to South America during World War I. Frasconi's mother managed a restaurant whilst his father was frequently unemployed. Frasconi frequently quotes his mother and her view of his talents. He reports that his mother would talk of art at the church where she was brought up as if it was done by God rather than being the work of man. She felt that if Frasconi had been born with a gift then he would already be a famous artist rather than working like her each day. His mother worked in the restaurant, cared for Frasconi and his two sisters and still found time to be a seamstress[4]
By the age of twelve, he was learning a trade at a printers after abandoning a course at Círculo de Bellas Artes.[5] During his teenage years he admired Gustave Doré and Goya, whilst indulging in creating caricatures of political figures.[4][5]
During the war, an exhibition of impressionism and post-impression was organised by the French in Latin America. Artists such as Van Gogh and Cézanne captured his imagination. However it was the woodcuts of Paul Gauguin that he was attracted to most.[5] Frasconi says he became intrigued by American writers and musicians. He would hear Jazz on the radio and read American authors like Walt Whitman.[5]
Frasconi moved to the United States in 1945 at the end of World War II. He worked as a gardener and as a guard at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. It was at that museum that he had his first dedicated show. His recognition was beginning to grow and within twelve months he had a similar show at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.[5]
In 1982 Frasconi was the Distinguished Teaching Professor of Visual Arts at the State University of New York at Purchase. His artistry was recognised by an award from the Guggenheim Foundation.,[6] 1953.
In 1959, Frasconi was unsuccessful when shortlisted for the Caldecott Medal for his book The House that Jack Built. However in 1971, when the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association devised the idea of a Caldecott Honor, they retrospectively awarded the new secondary prize to a number of books including Frasconi's book.
In 1962, Frasconi won a Horn Book Fanfare award for The Snow and the Sun - La Nieve y el Sol a book he had created in two languages.[7] He has frequently produced multilingual books.
Frasconi's students have included Adrian Lee Kellard and Ron Rocco.
His major work took ten years to complete and is a series of woodcuts that illustrate "The Disappeared". The work illustrates real people who were tortured and killed in his home country of Uruguay. Frasconi was four years into this work when democracy was restored[2] following the dictatorship of Juan María Bordaberry through to General Álvarez. Bordaberry, who came to power in 1973, was jailed for crimes against humanity. The dictatorships, which ended with the military rule by Álvarez, ended in 1985. The regimes resulted in the deaths of political prisoners and in 2009 those involved in the murders are still being arrested.[3]
[edit] Works
- See and Say, 1955[8]
- Frasconi Woodcuts, 1958
- The House that Jack Built (La Maison Que Jacques A Batie)
- A Whitman Portrait, 1960
- The Snow and the Sun - La Nieve y el Sol, 1962[7]
- A Sunday in Monterey;: Woodcuts, 1964
- The Cantilever Rainbow (A) by Ruth Krauss, illus. by Frasconi (1965)
- A Kaleidoscope in Woodcuts, 1968
- Against the Grain, the woodcuts of Antonio Frasconi, 1974[4]
- 12 Fables od Aesop
- The Disappeared, text by Mario Benedetti
[edit] References
- ^ a b Antonio Frasconi Papers, de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi Libraries.
- ^ a b c d The Disappeared, North Dakota Museum of Art, accessed September 2009
- ^ a b Rights-Uraguay: The Last Dictator, Behind Bars, Darío Montero, ipsnews, accessed September 2009
- ^ a b c Frasconi - Against the Grain, the woodcuts of Antonio Frasconi, Collier Books, Collier Macmillan, London, 1974, ISBN 0-02-000600-4
- ^ a b c d e Authors and Artists for Young Adults on Antonio Frasconi, Bookrags.com, accessed September 2009
- ^ Frasconi, Guggenheim Foundation, accessed September 2009
- ^ a b Horn Book Fanfare Award, Library Thing, accessed September 2009
- ^ Frasconi, Antonio, InfoPlease.com, accessed September 2009
