(boy with pear)

Mario Avati

Mario Avati was primarily known for his still lifes and highly stylized, geometrical animal imagery. On occasion, however, he broke out of this mold, as with this small-format portrait of a young boy dressed in formal attire, holding a large pear.

The mezzotint medium had been relegated to commercial use by the time Avati began working in intaglio printmaking in the late 1940s. However, he quickly became smitten with the dramatic, moody nature of the technique and began using it almost exclusively within a decade. Here, the subtle qualities of mezzotint are highlighted in the relatively simple composition by the quiet illumination of the boy’s facial features, as if he is emerging from shadow, and the sloping shape of the pear.