Chouettes, from Noah's Ark

 

Mario Avati

  1921 - 2009 (biography)

1971  

mezzotint 

8 1/2 x 8 3/8" platemark 

pencil, lower right 

8 of 75  

pencil titled, dated, and editioned; publisher's blindstamp in lower left 

from a suite of ten prints entitled "Noah's Ark." The suite is listed in Roten catalog 15, on page 45. 

cream wove 

published 

Roten Galleries, Inc. 

SKHE101 

SOLD

This highly stylized mezzotint illustrates Mario Avati's amazing sense of design. He placed a mature and an adolescent owl, nocturnal birds of prey, against the black of night. His geometric design exaggerates the features that make the owl such a delightful bird: the upright stance, the large broad head, the big eyes that have binocular vision, and the amazing feathers that have adapted for silent flight. It appears that the artist couldn't resist adding a wood grain design to the tree branch.