Peladora de Canas (The Cane Peeler)

Mauricio Lasansky

Very rare!! This impression appears to be editioned "1/3", Thein/Lasansky lists the edition at 8 and the plate as having been destroyed. This etching was done in Argentina before the Lasansky family left for the U.S. in 1943 wishing to escape the tyranny of Juan Peron. He then spent time at Atelier 17 in New York before taking the position heading the printmaking department at the University of Iowa.

An Argentine field worker walks between 2 burros which are laden with sugar cane. Lasansky's interest in Spaniard Pablo Picasso's early work can be found in the rendering of the composition. Lasansky annotated this work as being from "Buenos Aires" in the lower right corner, beneath his signature.

The decade of the 30s in Argentina was called the 'Década Infame' for its military coups, corruption, persecutions and the collapse of the economy into a full Depression, like in North America and Europe. This decade included three presidents and gave rise to an exodus from the farms to the cities and, in 1943, to Juan Peron.