Firebird by Mauricio Lasansky

Firebird by Mauricio Lasansky

Firebird

Mauricio Lasansky

Title

Firebird

 
Artist
Year
1952 - 53 
Technique
engraving, etching, soft-ground, aquatint, stippler 
Image Size
21 3/8 x 33 7/16" platemark 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
a/p (artist's proof) 
Annotations
titled in lower left 
Reference
Lasansky 90; Zigrosser 85 
Paper
heavy, antique-white wove 
State
proof 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
22390 
Price
SOLD
Description

A large, multi-technique intaglio by Mauricio Lasansky done in 1952-3 in Iowa. He pulled out all the stops for this composition using engraving, etching, soft-ground, electric stippler, gouging, scraping and burnishing to accomplish this surreal image.

The legend of a Firebird exists in cultures throughout the world, usually as a Phoenix, a bird that rises from the ashes of the fire and regenerates itself.

The Firebird is also the subject of a ballet and orchestral concert work by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev’s ‘Ballets Russes’ company; the original choreography was by Michel Fokine, with a scenario by Alexandre Benois and Fokine based on the Russian fairy tales of the Firebird and the blessing and curse it possesses for its owner.