Painter, printmaker, writer, and musician Minore "Mark" Cappiali Luca was born in San Francisco, CA, in 1918. Son of artist and activist Jessey Dorr (1877 - 1978) and Sardinian immigrant Angelo Luca (1892-1970), he was encouraged from an early age to pursue art. He earned his Bachelor’s degree with honors in 1940 from San Francisco State University and his MFA from Columbia University in 1948. A decade later, he would also earn a Ph.D. in Museum Practices. Luca was known for his abstract portraits, as well as his images of scientific, historical, and literary figures. Among his commissions was a mural for the fine arts department of Columbia University (1948).
Luca taught at State University of New York, Potsdam, from 1948 - 1950; Sacramento State University, 1955 - '56; and University of California, Berkeley, 1958 - 1978. He was a member of the California Society of Printmakers from 1955 to 1968; the East Bay Art Association (president, 1981 - 1982); Center for the Visual Arts; the Oakland Art Association; and the California Writers Club (president of Berkeley chapter from 1984 - 1985). He illustrated several books and publications, among them Henry Evans' periodical Poems & Pictures (1954); Back to the Cave (1956 and 1958); and Seven Stages portfolio, Peregrine Press, SF (1959). He authored the educational books Understanding Children's Art (Charles Merrill, 1967); Art Education: Strategies (Prentice-Hall, 1968), and contributed to The Museum as Educator (UNESCO, 1973).
Exhibitions:
San Francisco State University Annual Painting Exhibition, 1940 & '41 (first prize in each); Albany Institute of Arts, 1948; San Francisco Museum of Art, 1949 & 1957; Crocker Museum, 1956; Palace of the Legion of Honor Invitational, SF, 1961; Print, Painting, and Sculpture Exhibition, Richmond Arts Center, 1962, 1963, 1968, & 1971; Oakland Museum of Art, 1963, 1968; Panoras Gallery, New York (solo exhib.), 1966; U.S. Cultural Institute, Lima, Peru, 1980.
Mark Luca died on June 26, 2005 in Rhonert Park, Sonoma County, California.
Information partially gathered from Luca's bio on art-books.com, his obituary on legacy.com, and the article "Mystery of a Lost Artist" by Davis Dutton, San Francisco Chronical, November 6, 2005.