Emilia; or, Estudio para un Retrato by Mauricio Lasansky

Emilia; or, Estudio para un Retrato by Mauricio Lasansky

Emilia; or, Estudio para un Retrato

Mauricio Lasansky

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Title

Emilia; or, Estudio para un Retrato

 
Artist
Year
1940  
Technique
color drypoint printed in sienna, black and cobalt blue inks from the same zinc plate 
Image Size
18 5/16 x 12 7/16" platemark 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
3/3 (listed as 10 in Lasansky in the second state) 
Annotations
Emilia, in lower left; dated 40 under the signature 
Reference
Thein/Lasansky 43, Zigrosser 43 AND Thein/Lasansky 45, Zigrosser 46 
Paper
antique-white laid 
State
i/ii 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
23954 
Price
$4,500.00 
Description

Emilia was Mauricio's wife (1917 - 2009). Thein/Lasansky lists it as having been printed in sienna and black inks only, but this impression has the addition of cobalt blue. The raisonné image for "Estudio para un Retrado" lacks the architectural arches on the bottom half; it is unclear if the plate was cut or the photograph was cropped. Another print titled "Emilia" has no image in the catalogue; it is possible that this may be the that print.

This is a rare Surreal portrait of Lasansky’s wife Emilia, whom he had married in 1937. The zinc plate was printed three times, first using a sienna, then inked with black, and finally with a cobalt blue. The Bottocelli-like portrait stands behind a type of altar. She holds a plant while a delicate “landscape” that stretches to infinity contrasts the intricate, dream-like state of the subject.

"Emilia", also titled "Estudio para un Retrato" (Lady with Flower) was done in Argentina, in 1940, three years before Mauricio left for New York to work at Atelier 17. This impression is pencil is numbered "3/3", the catalog raisonné entry lists an edition of 10, with the plate having been destroyed.

Alan Fern commented about these drypoints on page 12 of the University of Iowa's catalog "Lasansky: Printmaker": "The drypoints...are lyrical and imaginative, relying on surrealist juxtapositions of interior and exterior space, objects in different scale, and interpenetrations of one form by another. These early works are consciously poetic; many of Lasansky's friends and intellectual heroes were poets and writers, who used language in the Spanish tradition with a rich employment of metaphors, strange juxtapositions of objects and ideas, and the frequent expression of states of mind in similes - equivalents for feelings being made vivid by references to objects."

There are condition issues with this impression, contact the gallery for details.

 

Please call us at 707-546-7352 or email artannex@aol.com to purchase this item.