In the Space

 

Alessandro Mastro-Valerio

  1935 - 1953 (biography)

1944  

woodengraving 

5 15/16 x 7 9/16" image size 

pencil, lower right 

unnumbered, from an edition of 200 

 

print #26 from the Presentation Prints of the Woodcut Society; Library of Congress 5 

slick, antique-white wove 

published 

The Woodcut Society, Alexandria, VA 

CKCS114 

SOLD

A recumbent woman, her figure curled within a shell-like curve of fabric, is seen from above in an unusual but starkly elegant woodengraving by Alessandro Mastro-Valerio. The female figure was a common theme in his work, and within that genre his impressions in woodcut remain among his most powerful, shelving what could easily have become another study in erotica to make way for a more emotional, contemplative element executed in sculptural monochrome. Here, his subject appears to be sleeping, or perhaps simply contemplating, as she lies in a cocoon of solitude. He has chosen a predominantly black palette, lending a feeling of nocturnal peace, or of floating in space, to the composition.