25. Bodas De Sangre, 1951 BY CARL ZIGROSSER

VICE-DIRECTOR AND CURATOR, PRINTS AND DRAWINGS

THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART

THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF ARTS NEW YORK Copyright© 1960

The American Federation of Arts 34· Self Portrait, 1959 It was Waldo Frank who first mentioned the name Blake employed it to produce his Prophetic of Mauricio Lasansky to me. Lasansky, he said, Books, and Posada used it in Mexico for his was a brilliant young printmaker in Argentina popular prints. Acid was applied to eat away all who was about to come to the United States on a those portions of a copper or zinc plate which did Guggenheim Fellowship. In due course I met him not delineate the image; and then the plate was and his work, and I have been following his inked and printed as a wood cut. Lasansky says astounding career ever since. that the process was also used in Poland and that Mauricio Lasansky is a dedicated-a passion- he learned it from. his father. ately dedicated-artist. His passion is graphic art. In 1936, at the age of twenty-two, he was ap- He is constantly fighting for the acceptance of pointed Director of the Free Fine Arts School in as a major creative art form. This Cdrdoba. He continued to exhibit actively both mission has two aspects: his own substantial con- before and after that time, winning many prizes tribution to the contemporary graphic field, and and having one-man shows all over Argentina. his role as a teacher, training and stimulating In 1943 a retrospective exhibition of his graphic others toward the same high endeavor. work was held at the Galleria Muller in Buenos Lasansky, born in in 1914, showed Aires. The twenty-eight prints shown there sum an early inclination for the arts. At first he wanted up Lasansky's Argentine phase. to be a musician-and music was to continue to The cultural climate of Argentina at that time be an influence-but after a briefinterval he turned had, one gathers, a provincial flavor. There was to art and started taking lessons at the age of no native graphic tradition to build on, as there thirteen. He must have been born, he said, with was, for example, in Mexico. The avant-garde printer's ink in his veins: both his father and his influences came from France or Spain, and were uncle were printers. His father, who had been predominantly literary, since books travel farther born in Poland, spent several years in Philadelphia, and faster than paintings or other works of art. printing paper money at the United States Mint, The sophistication achieved by the artists tended before settling permanently in Buenos Aires. to be rootless and unduly precious, expressing it- Mauricio was a precocious student: at the age of self in poetic symbolism and elegant conceit. One sixteen he won his first honorable mention for critic, Julio V anso, spoke of "plastic metaphors," sculpture at the Mutulidad Fine Arts Exhibition. and the very phrase implies a fundamentally The following year he won a prize at the same literary conception translated into visual terms. institution. In 193 3 he entered the Superior School Lasansky' s prints were typical of such a milieu, of Fine Arts, taking courses in painting, sculpture, yet stood apart by reason of his technical virtuos- and . In the same year he was already ity and his experimental approach. Although he making creditable prints such as Veloria. This was experimented with etching, relief etching, and executed in a rather unusual medium, relief etch- linoleum. cut, the bulk of his work was executed ing on zinc, called zincografi~ in Argentina. in drypoint. They display an extraordinary 5 technical facility; he can suggest the most delicate similar to Picasso's, the burin line was very much tones and nuances by this primarily linear medium. his own. It should also be pointed out that Picasso's He experimented with expressionism, as it were, symbolism would come more naturally to in Velorio and Gena, possibly with surrealism in Lasansky as a Latin-American than it would to an Figura, with a pastoral tradition in Changos y Anglo-American. In due course he digested Burros, but his most consistent accomplishment Picasso's influence and made it part of his own appeared in the drypoints, Maternidad, El Presagio amalgam, as he did also with the tech- and numerous others. They are romantic and niques of . poetic compositions of extreme sensibility and Meanwhile he made an important decision- refinement. not to return to Argentina, but to bring his wife The year 1943 marked a decisive step in his and two children here, and settle permanently in career. He came to the United States on a Guggen- the United States. Such a decision required cour- heim Fellowship. It is significant that one of the age, for his fortunes were at a low ebb. He was a first things he did upon his arrival in N ew York foreigner with little facility in English, he had was to visit the print room of the Metropolitan responsibility for a growing family, and no pros- Museum of Art and study the old masters. He felt pect of a job. Some reflection of this whole period the need to assimilate the ancient graphic tradition, of stress appears in La Lagrima (nostalgia for home actual examples of which he had not been able to. and family) and SelfPortrait with Beard, so different find in Argentina. He was to spend many months in mood from the elegant Auto Retrato of 1943. in the print room studying the prints of the past. Late in 194 5 he was- invited to be Visiting Lecturer As Francis Taylor, the Director of the Metropoli- for Graphic Arts at the State University oflowa. tan Museum, later jocosely remarked: "It took an To strike roots in the country fitted in well with 'Indian' from South America to have the persever- his inclination. In Argentina, too, he had left the ance and guts to look at every print in the Mu- capital, Buenos Aires, to settle down in the prov- seum." There were over one hundred and fifty inces at Cordoba. Now, he threw himself heart thousand of them ! and soul into teaching, and his success was im- Concurrently, Lasansky was trying out modern mediate. He wangled new equipment, and re- modes of graphic expression in Hayter's Atelier 17. organized the whole Department of Graphic Arts. Here he was introduced to burin engraving, soft In one year he was made Assistant Professor, in ground textures by impress, gouging, graining the following year Associate Professor, and in with carborundums, and the like. Above all he 1948 he achieved tenure as a full Professor. Above discovered Picasso in the original. He was bowled all he started training students, who in turn estab- over by the great Spaniard for a period, and lished teaching centers for graphic arts in colleges translated his imagery into a bravura burin tech- throughout the Middle and Far West. In a decade nique in such plates as Doma and Sol y Luna. He he had established one of the most dynamic graphic pointed out to me that although the imagery was workshops, especially for intaglio work, to be 6 found anywhere in the country and had become, handled area. It is an educational exercise which through his own work and his students, an impor- makes or breaks a student. Although he has tant and far-reaching influence in American print- nothing against lithography in the hands of a making. master, he does not favor the medium as a teaching Mauricio Lasansky is a born teacher. He has the aid; it does not offer enough resistance. To make gift of imparting enthusiasm, a passion for the good lithographs one must know how to draw, print and its creation. He does n1.uch more than and very few students nowadays have that ac- dispense technical information; he works upon complishment. Real freedom cannot exist without character and emotional response. He treats each discipline. By discipline I mean all those things that student as an individual problem. My ambition are synthesized in a mature personality: understanding with my stHdents, he has said, is to give each one and love, honesty, control and order, se!f"criticism, and, a rationale for his work. When the students come to above all, the ability to see reality without fear. oHr workshop, they are generally unaware of how to Lasansky requires each student to make a self por- use their emotional and intellectual experiences. In ad- trait, and he says that the average young Ameri- dition they lack technical knowledge. The purpose, can student finds this task the most formidable the responsibility, the integrity ofth e artist is obscure to of all. It will be seen that his teaching program em- them. . . . There are no formulas. Freedom, backed braces many things beside art and technique. by self-discipline, will eventually help the student to Along with his teaching he is involved, devoted- find himselfin his work. IfI teach anything at all, it is ly, with his own creative work. He is a master of the sense of responsibiliry one must have as an artist. his craft in the old and true sense of the word. He Unlike many modern artists and teachers, has mastered technique; it has become an instru- Lasansky believes strongly in the continuity and ment over which he has full and sure control, validity of tradition, and he encourages students leaving his energies free to develop the creative to respond to whatever influences, in the past and idea in all its complexity. This process of conver- present, for which their own inner natures have sion and growth is a slow and absorbing activity; affinity. This makes for diversity of creative ap- images have to be dragged up out of the uncon- proach among them. He never consciously seeks scious, leading motifs have to be built up and minor to impose his own aesthetic upon his students; ones put in their place, fascinating bypaths have they are never allowed to enter his studio, nor do to be explored for relevance and possibly sup- they see his own work except by accident. They pressed, the relation between form and form, learn by doing and by profiting from their own between color and color, has to be tested in con- mistakes. For this reason he favors the copper crete terms. I asked if this gestation could not be plate as a teaching medium. Just to engrave on a accomplished in the mind without recourse to tough material such as copper demands discipline, actual material. For him, he said, it could not; that but even more willpower and self discipline are was the way he worked-thinking and feeling required to scrape off and hammer out a mis- with his hands. The intaglios, and even some of 7 the early drypoints, seldom attained completion latter to my mind being one of his most moving in less than twenty-five states, some of these compositions. involving drastic changes in the copper plate. He has also done certain prints quite apart from Such alterations necessitated a terrific amount of those mentioned above; they are what he calls physical labor, but the artist was never one to his portraits. They seem to be simple and direct shrink from any effort whatsoever to accomplish projections of an image in contrast to the shifting his purpose. and elusive imagery so characteristic of his other A glimpse of the transformation undergone by work. They are not literal representations, for he a single plate is given in a trial proof of Bodas de is an imaginative and not a realistic artist, and no Sangre shown in the present exhibition. To a doubt they are not intended to be portraits as such. certain extent the subject matter demanded com- They are more like concrete embodiments of plex treatment. The elaborate synthesis of thought types or characters. It is significant that they all and feeling involved in this theme, inspired by relate to himself or his family, and thus become, Garcia Lorca' s drama of the same name, could not as it were, an extension of his own ego and its be achieved lightly. It was not simple illustration, ambiance. Artists are by nature genial egoists; but a recapitulation in another medium of the Lasansky here is frankly so. These pictures are not passions and dramatic conflicts implicit in Lorca' s portrayals but personifications of MY Boy, MY tragedy. The mixed copper-plate techniques (en- Daughter, MY Wife and Tomas, and the like. graving, etching, soft-ground, aquatint, gouging, Similarly, his self portraits are not of the whole and graining) which he has designated as intaglio, man, but are mo~e or less facets of his character in color or black and white, are well adapted for which he has assumed or would like to assume. the interpretation of imaginative themes, such as He has private nicknames for them all. In line with Bodas de Sangre, Firebird or Pieta, as well as his the immediacy and spontaneity of the portraits, impassioned commentaries on social themes and it is interesting to note that in some of the later world events. In 1946 he was deeply affected by ones, such as Self Portrait in Profile, 1957, the artist the revelations of the atrocities in the Nazi con- has worked on a magnesium plate, which does centration camps-a concern which found expres- not permit corrections or erasures; the lines are sion in Dachau and the sequence For an Eye an Eye, engraved once and for all. over which he worked for two years. Ten years Critics have discovered traces of influence in later he visited Spain, and was profoundly moved Lasansky's work-El Greco, Goya, Modigliani, by the tragic plight of that country, for which he Chagall, Hayter, Picasso-but there seems little felt an attachment through his early cultural ties, point in such enumeration. Lasansky is not an in spite ofhishatred for Franco. He was so wrought eclectic. What he has taken he has made his very up about it that he could not sleep. Eventually he own because it serves his innate drive. Who among found a certain catharsis for his obsessive preoc- living artists, with all the world's art behind them, cupation in such plates as Vision and Espana, the can truly say that they are without influence and 8 owe nothing to tradition? The abstract expres- CHECK LIST OF PRINTS BY MAURICIO LASANSKY sionists, to be sure, make a claim that they have NOTE: Dimensions are given in inches, with height broken with tradition. Lasansky confesses to a listed first. Unless otherwise specified, the plates are detached curiosity about action painting or the of copper. When a plate has been destroyed, it is so dynamics of painting, although he says it has no indicated. In general, the edition numbers indicate the final limit of the edition, and not the actual place in printmaking. Recently, in the summer, he number of prints in existence at present, since the amused himself by making collages of weathered artist does not always print the full edition at once. shingles; such flat abstract patterns he calls exer- Almost all the edition numbers for prints from 1933 cises in thinking without feeling. He believes in a through 1942 are approximate and on the generous fusion of thinking and feeling; and, as a maker of side. One occasionally encounters a small edition prints, he believes that they should have content number (for example 2/5) on some prints; this and meaning as well as expressive form. number indicates not the total edition but the num- Lasansky is not a prolific artist; his aesthetic ber printed of a particular state. The artist has said demands brooding and reflection and a tremendous that nearly all his plates have undergone changes of amount of plain hard work. He prints all his own state, some of them as many as twenty-five stages. plates, and this likewise consumes much time. But since these various states are in the nature of Furthermore, he has his teaching, which he takes trials and not definitive, and since these states, with very few exceptions, are retained by the artist and very seriously. He acts as guide and counselor to usually destroyed, not to appear on the market, no his students, identifies himselfwith their problems, attempt has been made to trace or catalog the and advises them about jobs and exhibitions. His mutations of the plate. For the artist the final state concern with critical acclaim for himself and his is definitive, and represents his ultimate intention. students is to a certain extent dictated by the One may expect to find a difference up to about one necessity of making good in an environment quarter inch between the listed dimensions and where art is not the ruling passion. As far as his those ofindividual prints. This is because the expan- own work is concerned, he does not make prints sion and contraction of paper is not uniform. The of that special variety known as "exhibition variation, however, is usually in one direction only. pictures." He does not live in that kind of world. The order of the catalog is more or less chrono- He would rather face reality alone on the prairie logical, except in relation to the very early years, than buzz among the ivory towers of New York. for which precise data was lacking in this country. For this reason the prints from 1933 through 1936 He is an independent fellow, unpredictable, a bit are arranged by medium rather than by date. Some peppery at times, a real maverick. But then, the titles are copied from old exhibition catalogs, and mavericks are the ones the world remembers. are without date or dimensions. The compiler is greatly indebted to the artist and to William Fried- man for data and information without which it CARL ZIGROSSER would have been impossible to make this catalog. 9 ARGENTINA 1933-1936 30. Carnaval, linoleum cut, I6 Yz x II %, I937, edi- tion IO 1. Campesinos, etching, IS Yz x I7, I933, edition 3 I. Burritos, linoleum cut, I7 x 22, I937, edition I 5 small 32. Sequia, linoleum cut, IS Yz x I2, I937, edition IO 2. Herido, etching 33· Tucuman, drypoint, I6 x 2I, I937, edition IO 3. Drama, etching 34· El Molino, relief etching on zinc (zincografia), 4· Dolor, etching I 2 x I 5 %, I 9 37 edition I o plate destroyed 5· Chapa, etching 35 · Changos, etching, IS % x I9 %, I937, edition25? 6. Cosecha, etching, I936? editions? 36. Changos y Burros, etching, 2I x 26 %, I937, edi- 7· Peladora de Cafia, etching, 22 Yz x I7 %, I936, tion IS edition 25 8. Veloria, relief etching on zinc (zincografia), 1938 I2% x II o/.,, I933 edition IO 37· Figura, etching on irregular plate, IS x II %, 9. Maternidad, relief etching on zinc (zincografia), I93 8, edition I 5 I2 % x I I o/.,, I933, edition IO 38. Anunciaci6n, drypoint, I938, edition IO? IO. Simbolo, relief etching on zinc (zincografia) 39. Suicidas, engraving, II x I3 %, I938, edition Io? I 1. Meeting, relief etching on zinc (zincografia) 40. Maternidad, drypoint, 22 x I7, I938, edition Io? I2. Fin, relief etching on zinc (zincografia) 41. Maternidad, estampa I3. Prisioneros, relief etching on zinc (zincografia), 1939 IO x I2, I934, edition Io? 42. Canci6n de Cuna (inspired by Los Cinco Bur- I4. Campesino Hablando, relief etching on zinc ritos of Javier Villafane), drypoint with burin,

(zincografia) I4% x 20 'l'8, I939 IS. Tragedia, lithograph 1940 I6. Ensayo, lithograph 43 . Estudio para un Retrato (Woman with Flower), I7. Cadaver, lithograph drypoint, I6 % x I2 %, I940?, edition IO I8. Cabeza, lithograph 44· El Presagio, drypoint, 24 Ys x I6 %, I94D-I94I, I9. Huerfanos, drypoint edition 10 20. Tierra, drypoint 45· Un Romance Sonambulo (from Garcia Lorca), 21. Campesinos, drypoint drypoint, 20 % x I2 %, I940, edition IO 22. Victimas, drypoint 46. Emilia, drypoint, I940, edition IO? 23. Las Victimas, drypoint 1941 24. Papa!, drypoint 47· Retrato de Emilia, drypoint, IS% x I2o/s, I94I, 25. Cabeza, drypoint, I936, edition 10 edition 10? 26. Piedad, drypoint, I936, 10 x 12%, edition IO 48. La Rosa y el Espejo, drypoint, 24% x I6 ~, 27. Veloria, engraving, I936 I94I-I942, edition Io? 1937 1942 28. Cena, etching, II x I4, I937, edition IO 49· Figura, drypoint, 7 % x II \4 , I942?, edition IO 29. Cena, linoleum cut, I7 %x 2o %,, I937, edition so. Estudio para un Retrato de A.B. (Barra!) dry- 25 point, 10 % X IO, I942, edition IO 10 51. Mi Hijo y su Reina de Baraja, drypoint, I5 ¥4 x 68. Dachau, intaglio, I5% x 23 %, I946, edition 3S 12%, I942, edition Io? 69. For an Eye an Eye I, intaglio, 26% x 2I l4, I946- 52. Motivo sobre al Cancionero de Heine I, dry- I948, edition so point, 6% x 4 %, I942, edition 10, plate destroyed 70. For an Eye an Eye II, intaglio, 27 x 2I %, I946- 53 . Motivo sobre al Cancionero de Heine II, dry- I948, edition so point, 6 % x 4 %, I 942, edition 10, plate destroyed 71. For an Eye an Eye III, intaglio, 27 x 2I %, I946- 54· Motivo sobre al Cancionero de Heine III, dry- 1948, edition so point, 6% x 4%, I942, edition IO, plate destroyed 72. For an Eye an Eye IV, intaglio, 26% x 21, 1946- 1948, edition so 1943

55· Estudio para un Auto Retrato, drypoint, 8% x 1947

6, I943, edition IO? 73. Spring, color intaglio (9 plates), 23% x 8 'l'8, 1947, edition so UNITED STATES 1944 74· Autumn, color intaglio, 24 x 8%, 1947, edition 56. Horse, burin engraving, I3 % X 5 %, I944, edi- S, plates lost tion 25 75. Winter, color intaglio, 24 x 8%, I947, editions, 57· Doma, burin engraving, I9% x I4, I944, edition plates lost 25 76. My Boy, color intaglio (S plates), I7 x 14, 1947, 58. Fighting Horses, burin engraving, I4 X I9 %, edition 35 I944, edition 25 77· My Wife, color intaglio (6 plates), 21 x 16 Y,, 59· El Cid, lithograph, 27% x 2I ¥4, I944, edition I 5, 1947, edition 3S stone destroyed 1948 1945 78. Self Portrait, color intaglio (6 plates), 24l4 x 16, 6o. La Lagrima, color etching (2 plates), 8% x I2, I948, edition 3 s I945, edition 3 5 79. Pieta, color intaglio (9 plates), 19 Yz x 28, 1948, 61. Apocalyptical Space, burin engraving, I6 x edition 3S 23 %, I945, edition IO, plate destroyed So. El Pajaro, intaglio, 28 'l's x 22 %, 1948, edition so x 62. Sol y Luna, intaglio, I5 'l's 20%, I945, edition 81. Aitana, color intaglio (S plates), 26% x 12, 1948, 25 edition 3S 63. Griffanage, intaglio, 9 x I2, I945, edition IO 82. Near East (Pieta), color intaglio(7 plates), 19% x 64. SelfPortrait (with beard), burin engraving, I2 x 24, 1948, edition 3 S IO, I945, edition 3 5 1950 1946 83. SelfPortrait (in frame), color intaglio (5 plates), 65. Time in Space, intaglio, I7% x 23%, I946, edi- 2I x 19 Ys, 19SO, edition 3 S tion 35 1951 66. Object I (Butterfly), intaglio, 5 x 8, I946, edition 35 84. Bodas de Sangre, color intaglio (9 plates), 20 % x 67. Object II, intaglio, I946, edition 3 5 28%, 19S1, edition 3S 11 1952-1953 96. My Wife and Tomas, color intaglio on zinc 85. Fire Bird, intaglio, 21% x 34, 1952-1953, edi- and COpper (9 plates), 75 X 20, 1959, edition 50? tion 50 1954 CHRONOLOGY 86. Boy, color intaglio (5 plates), 24 x 15 %, 1954, 1914 Born in Buenos Aires, the son of a printer who edition 35 had come to Argentina from Lithuania. 1955 1933 Attended Superior School of Fine Arts, 87. Sagittarius, intaglio, 21% x 36, 1955, edition 35 Buenos Aires, Argentina, studying painting, 1956 sculpture, and engraving. 88. The Vision, color intaglio (one plate printed 1935 First one-man show, Fort General Roca, Rio twice, first with yellow ochre, a warm color, Negro, Argentina. and second with black, a cool color), 24 x 21 %,, 1936 Director ofThe Free Fine Arts School, Villa 1956, edition 50 Maria Cordoba, Argentina. 89. Espana, color intaglio (one plate printed twice, 1936 Work shown at the Art Institute of Chicago. first with yellow ochre, a warm color, and 1937 Married Emilia Barragan. Children: William second with black, a cool color), 32 x 21, 1956, b. 193 8; Rocio Aitana b. 1943; Leonardo b. edition 50 1946; Maria Jimena b. 1947; Luis Phillip b. 1957 1954; Thomas b. 1957. 1939 Director ofthe Taller Manualidades, Cordoba, 90. Self Portrait (profile), engraving on magnesium Argentina. (one plate printed twice, first with yellow ochre, 1943 Received Guggenheim Fellowship to come a warm color, and second with black, a cool to the United States. Studied the print collec- color), 36 x 20%, 1957, edition 50 tion at the Metropolitan Museum. 1958 1944 Guggenheim Fellowship renewed. Worked 91. Father and Son (Felipe), engraving on magne- with in Atelier 17. sium, 35% x 20%,, 1958, edition 50 1945 Appointed Visiting Lecturer to create a 92. Nacimiento en Cardiel, color intaglio (one plate Graphic Arts Department at the State Univer- printed twice, first with yellow ochre, a warm sity ofiowa. color, and second with black, a cool color), 1946 Appointed Assistant Professor of Art at the 21 x 32 %,, 1958, edition 50 State University ofiowa. 1959 1947 Appointed Associate Professor of Art at the 93. My Son Leonardo, color intaglio (4 plates), State University ofiowa. 25% x 16 %, 1959, edition 50 1948 Appointed Professor of Art at the State 94· Self Portrait (full length), color intaglio, 67 x University ofiowa. 20%,, 1959, edition 50 1952 Became an American Citizen. 95· My Daughter, Maria Jimena, color intaglio and 1953 Guggenheim Fellowship for one year in Spain engraving on zinc (5 plates), 68% x 20%, 1959, and France. edition 50 1955 The Contemporaries, N .Y.C., became his 12 dealer and continues to handle his work. Honorable Mention: Northwest Printmakers 1959 Doctor of Arts, Wesleyan University. Exhibition. Special Mention: Joslyn Art Museum Exhibi- AWARDS AND HONORS tion. In Argentina: eighteen First Prizes. 1951 Purchase Prizes: Northwest Printmakers 23rd In the United States: Annual Exhibition; Des Moines Art Center 1944 First Prize: 17th International Exhibition of 3rd Annual Exhibition. Prints, Seattle. Charles M. Lea Prize: Philadelphia Print Club 1945 Purchase Prizes: Philadelphia Print Club Ex- 28th Annual Exhibition. hibition; Library of Congress 3rd National Honorable Mention: Bradley University Na- Exhibition. tional Exhibition. 1946 Purchase Prizes: Philadelphia Print Club Ex- Purchase Prize: Springfield Art Museum Ex- hibition; Des Moines Art Center Exhibition; hibition. Denver Art Museum 52nd Annual Exhibition. 2nd Prize and Purchase: Iowa State Art Salon 1947 Purchase Prizes: Denver Art Museum 53rd Exhibition. Annual Exhibition; Walker Art Center Ex- 1952 Purchase Prizes: Printmakers of Southern hibition. California 1st Exhibition; Bradley University First Prize: Iowa State Fair Art Salon. National Exhibition. Award: Society of American Etchers and En- Edmunson Award: Des Moines Art Center 4th gravers, New York. Annual Exhibition. Honorable M ention: Midwest Biennial-Joslyn 1948 Purchase Prizes: Brooklyn Museum 2nd Na- Art Museum·. tional Print Exhibition; Northwest Print- Award: 3rd Mid America Annual-Nelson makers Exhibition; Springfield Museum Gallery. Exhibition; Library of Congress 6th N ational Exhibition; Philadelphia Print Club Exhibi- 1953 Honorable Mention: Wichita Art Association tion; Indiana 1st Print and Drawing Exhibi- 22nd Annual Exhibition. tion. Special Commendation: Des Moines Art Center Alice McFadden Eyre M edal: Pennsylvania 5th Annual Exhibition. Academy of the Fine Arts Exhibition. 1955 Purchase Prizes: Northwest Printmakers 27th 1949 Purchase Prize: Des Moines Art Center Exhi- International Exhibition; Mid America An- bition. nual Exhibition. Honorable Mention: J oslynArtMuseum Central Prize in Painting: Des Moines Art Center 7th States Graphic Arts Exhibition. Annual Exhibition. 1st and 2nd Awards: Walker Art Center 2nd First Award: Iowa State Art Salon Exhibition. Biennial Exhibition. 1956 Purchase Prize: Library of Congress 14th Na- 1950 Purchase Prize: Library of Congress 8th N a- tional Exhibition. tional Exhibition. Younkers Professional Award: Des Moines Art First Prize: Iowa State Art Salon Exhibition. Center 8th Annual Exhibition. lJ 1957 Alice McFadden Eyre Medal: Pennsylvania ONE-MAN EXHIBITIONS Academy of the Fine Arts Annual Exhibition. 1945 San Francisco Mnseum of Art, California; Pr~rchase Prizes: Society ofWashington Print- Whyte Galleries, Washington, D.C. makers Exhibition ; Springfield Art Museum 1947 Galeria Sintonia, Buenos Aires, Argentina ; Exhibition; Des Moines Art Center 9th An- Art Institute of Chicago, Illlinois. nual Exhibition; San Francisco Art Associa- 1948 University of Louisville, Allen R. Hite tion Exhibition; Iowa State Teachers College Institute, Kentucky. Exhibition. 1949 Walker Art Center, Mi1mesota; Colorado Charles M . Lea Prize: Philadelphia Print Club Springs Fine Arts Center; University of Exhibition. Delaware; Florida State University; Museum Mention of Special Merit: Bay Printmakers of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; Cranbrook Society 3rd National Exhibition. Academy of Art, Michigan; College of Wil- R. M. Light and Co. Purchase Prize: Boston liam and Mary, Virginia; Carleton College, Printmakers roth Annual Exhibition. Minnesota; Milwaukee Art Institute, Wis- 1958 Purchase Prizes: Silvermine Guild 2nd Na- consin; Des Moines Art Center, Iowa ; State tional Print Exhibition; Pasadena Art Museum ; Bowling Green State N ational Print Exhibition; Brooklyn Mu- University, Ohio; Purdue University, In- seum I I th N ational Print Exhibition; Spring- diana; Beloit College, Wisconsin. field Art Museum 28th Annual Exhibition; 1950 Nelson Gallery of Art, Missouri; University Des Moines Art Center roth Annual Exhibi- of Colorado; State College of Washington; tion; Walker Art Center Biennial Exhibition. Mills College, California; Stanford Univer- Posada Award: First Biennial Inter-American sity, California; San Francisco Museum of Exhibition of Painting and Prints in Mexico. Art, California; Santa Barbara Museum of Honorable Mention: 8th Annual Mid America Art, California ; Scripps College, California ; Exhibition. University of Southern California; North- 1959 Purchase Awards: The Junior Gallery of Art, western University, Illinois; University of Louisville, Kentucky; The Northwest Print- Kentucky; Fairmount State College, West makers 30th Annual International Exhibition; Virginia; Hollins College, Virginia; Currier The Library of Congress; Contemporary Gallery of Art, New Hampshire; State American Printmakers, Depauw University. Teachers College, Oswego, New York; Uni- Honorable M ention: Ninth Annual Mid- versity of Michigan; University ofTennessee. America Exhibition, Nelson Gallery, Kansas 195 I University of Missouri; Coronet Theater, City, Missouri. Davenport, Iowa; Arkansas State College; Special Commendation: Des Moines Art University of Oklahoma; University of Center r r th Annual Exhibition N ebraska; Fort Dodge Federation of Arts, California Society of Etchers Open Award: Iowa; Texas State College for Women; Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco. Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; Honorary Doctor of Arts Degree: Awarded by Honolulu Academy of Arts, Hawaii; Univer- Iowa Wesleyan College, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. sity of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. 1952 Louisiana State University; University of R. M. Light & Company; Louisiana State Univer- Georgia; Tulane University; University of sity; Museum of Modern Art; N ational Gallery of Kentucky; University of Wisconsin. Art; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art; N ew 1953 Memphis Academy of Arts, Tennessee. York Public Library; Oakland Municipal Art Mu- 1954 Cedar Rapids Art Association, Iowa; Museo seum; Oklahoma Museum; Pasadena Art Museum; de Arte Contemporaneo, Madrid, Spain; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Philadel- Real Circulo Artistico, Barcelona, Spain. phia Museum of Art; Rosenwald Collection; Salt 1957 Emory University, Georgia; Retrospective Lake Public Library; San Francisco Art Association; Exhibition-State University oflowa. Seattle Museum; Silvermine Guild of Artists; 1958 Guest of Honor Exhibition, Oakland Art Southwest Missouri State College; Springfield Art Museum, California. Museum; Starr King School for the Ministry; 1959 Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y. and Na- State University of Iowa; Time Magazine, Inc.; tional Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires, University of Delaware; University of Georgia; traveling for two years in Latin America University of Illinois; University of Michigan Mu- under the auspices ofU.S.I.A. seum of Art; University of Minnesota; University 1960 Retrospective Exhibition circulated by The of N ebraska; University of Utah; University of American Federation of Arts, opening at the Washington; Walker Art Center; Washington Art Institute of Chicago, March 2, 1960. University; Wesleyan University, Davidson Art Center. WORKS IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS In Australia: Victoria Museum, Melbourne. In Argentina: Museo Municipal, Buenos Aires; SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires; Riferences are arranged alphabetically by author or title, Museo Provincal, La Plata, Buenos Aires; Museo with exhibition catalogs listed under the name of the city Municipal Rosario, Santa Fe; Museo Provincal de in which the museum or ga llery is lo cated. The place of Cordoba, Cordoba; Museo Municipal de Cordoba, Cordoba; Museo Municipal, Rio Cuarto; Museo publication ofbooks is New York unless otherwise noted. J ean Campbell j ones. de Mendoze. In Spain: Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, M adrid; Abbreviations: Ag August, Am American, Ap April, D Museo de Arte Moderno, Barcelona. December, ed edited, F February, il illustration(s), ]a In the United States: Albion College; American Life January, JeJune, ]I July, Mr March, My May, N and Casualty Insurance Company; Art Institute of November, 0 October, p page(s), PI plate, por portrait, Chicago; Art Museum of the New Britain Institute; S September. Bloomington Normal Art Association; Bradley BOOKS University; Brooklyn Museum; Cedar Rapids Art Buckland-Wright, John: Etching and Engraving, Association; City Art Museum, Saint Louis; 1953, p 45, 157, 162. Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Des Moines Art Frank, Waldo: South American journey. 1943, Center ; Indiana University; International Business p 130-13!. M achines Corporation; Iowa State Teachers Col- H aight, Anne Lyon: Portrait of Latin America As lege; Joslyn Art Museum; Library of Congress; Seen By Her Printmakers, 1946, p II, 38-39. 24. Selj.Portrait, 1950 Hayter, Stanley W. : New Ways of Grmntre, 1949, Madrid (and Barcelona). Museum ofContemporary p 44. 269. Art. Grabados de 1935-1953- Lasansky, 1954. Lieberman, William: Masters of Modern Art, Alfred Introduction by Angel Ferrant. H. Barr, Jr., ed. 1954, p 173. Minneapolis. Walker Art Center. A New Direction Pagano, Jose Leon: Historia del Arte Argentine. in Intaglio. The work of Mauricio Lasansky and (Buenos Aires) 1944, p 385. his students, an exhibition in duplicate opening Peterdi, Gabor: Printmaking-Old and New Methods, also at Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1949. 1959, p JI, 174, 180. Text by Lester D. Longman, Wm. M. Friedman, Reese, Albert : American Prize Prints of the 2oth and statements by the artist. 16 il by the artist. Ccutury, 1949, p II6. Washington, D.C. The Whyte Gallery. , Line-cuts, Drypoints, Etchings, Lithographs by THESES Mauricio Lasansky, I944· Introduction by Stanley Arnold, Paul B.: The Influence of Lasansky on William Hayter. 4 p. I il. Printmaking in the United States. University of Minnesota, 1955. 209 p. with illustrations, PERIODICALS charts, graphs. Archie, David: Lasansky. The Iowan Magaz ine Stinson, Robert E. : Mauricio Lasansky, A Mono- (Shenandoah, Iowa.) Ja I958. 8 il. graph. State University of Iowa, I948. I I7 p. Foss, Helen: Lasansky Print Group: A New Direc- EXHIBITION CATALOGS tion in Printmaking. College Art Joumal 8:141 Brooklyn, N.Y. The Brooklyn Museum. Ten Years I949· <>(American Prints 1947-1956, I956. Introduction Frost, Rosamund: National Academy Annual. Art by Una E. Johnson. News 45:59 F I947· I il. Buenos Aires. Galeria Muller. Exposicion de Grabados J. G.: Modern Argentinian at Whyte Gallery, d(~ Lasausky, 1943. Foreword by Luis Waysmann. Washington. Art Digest IS :I3 J I 1944. I il. 24 p. 3 il. Gilbert, Creighton: Lasansky and the Hayter Buenos Aires. Galeria Sintonia. Lasansky Exposicion Circle. Perspective (Washington University, St. de Grabados, August, I948. Sabre La Obra de Louis) I :I59-I62 Spring I948. 2 il. Lasansky by Julio E. Payr6. Haas, Irvin: The Print Collector. Art News 48:I4 Buff.1lo, New York. The Albright Art Gallery. Ap I949· lutaglio. The work of Mauricio Lasansky and other Kistler, Aline: The Best So Far from Latin America pri111111akers who studied with him at the State Univer- is Prints. Art News 40:1I 0 I94I. I il. sity of Iowa. Prepared by William Friedman, Kramer, Hilton: The Mid-America Annual. Arts under a grant from the United States Information 3I: I8Je I957· I iJ. Agency, with text in English, Spanish and Mauricio Lasansky. Pan American Union Bulletin Portuguese, 1959. Sop. 33 il, por. 78 :4I3 Je I944· I il. Iowa City. University of Iowa. Lasansky. Twenty- Lieberman, WilliamS.: Master Prints, I885-I948. Four Years of Printmaking, I957· Introduction by Print Collector's Quarterly (Woodstock, Vermont) Lester D. Longman. I6 p. 2 il. 30:42]e I949· I il. 17 Lowengrund, Margaret: Duplicate Lasansky Shows 4 · FIGURA, I938 at Walker Art Center and Colorado Springs Fine Etching on irregular plate, I 5 x II % Arts Center. Art Digest 23 :26 Ja I949· Lent by The Museum of Modern Art Paperbacks of Painting. Time 7I :62-63 Je 2, I958. 5· MATERNIDAD, I938 I iJ. Drypoint, 22 x I7 Payr6, Julio E.: Mauricio Lasansky. Sur (Buenos Lent by the artist 6. EL PRESAGIO, I940-4I Aires) p 8I-82. S I948. Drypoint, 24% x I6% Portrait of the Artist. Art News & Review (London) Lent by the artist 3 :I My I9, I95I. I il. 7· AUTO RETRATO, I943 Saavedra, Cornelio L. : El Arte de Lasansky. Cordoba Drypoint, 8 Yz x 6 (Cordoba, Argentina) S I939· Lent by the artist Sieber, Roy: Lasansky and the Iowa Print Group. 8. DOMA, I944 Print 7:4I-8 Ja I952. 7 il. Burin engraving, I9% x I4 Taxier, Carol: Mauricio Lasansky Artist-Teacher. Lent by the Denver Art Museum Impression Spring/Summer I958. I2 il. 9· EL CID, I944 Vivanco, Luis Philipe: La Obra Grabada de Mauri- Lithograph, 27 Yz x 2I %, cio Lasansky. Revista (Barcelona) Ap I954· I il. Lent by the artist IO. LA LAGRIMA (The Tear), I945 Zigrosser, Carl: American Prints Since I926: A Complete Revolution in the Making. Art Digest Color etching (2 plates), 8% x I2 Lent by The Museum of Modern Art 26:27 N I, I95I. I il. II. SOL Y LUNA, I945 By Lasansky: On Technical Processes in Printmak- Intaglio, I5 % x 20 Yz ing. College Art Journal 9:203 no. 2 I949· , Lent by The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of the Print and Drawing Club I2. SELF PORTRAIT, I945 CATALOG Burin engraving, I2 x IO All works in the exhibition are illustrated. Dimensions Lent by the Philadelphia Museum of Art are in inches. H eight precedes width. I3. TIME IN SPACE, I946 Intaglio, I7 % x 23% I. VELORIO, I933 Lent by the Krannert Art Museum, Reliefetching on zinc (zincografia), I2%, xI I% University of Illinois Lent by the artist I4. DACHAU, I946 2. CENA, I937 Intaglio, I5 % x 23% Linoleum cut, I7%, x 20% Lent by the artist Lent by the artist I5. FOR AN EYE AN EYE, I, I946-48 3· CHANGOS Y BURROS, I937 Intaglio, 26 %, x 2I %, Etching, 2I x 26 Yz Lent by the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum Lent by the artist (Mid-America Annual Collection) 18 I6. FOR AN EYE AN EYE, II, 1946-48 27. BODAS DE SANGRE Intaglio, 27 x 21 % Original copper plate, 20J.<. x 29 Lent by the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum Lent by the artist (Mid-America Annual Collection) 28. FIRE BIRD, 1952-53 I 7. FOR AN EYE AN EYE, ill, 1946-48 Intaglio, 2I Y4 x 34 Intaglio, 27 x 21 % Lent by the Philadelphia Museum of Art Lent by the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum 29. THE VISION, 1956 (Mid-America Annual Collection) Color intaglio (one plate printed twice, first I8. FOR AN EYE AN EYE, IV, I946-48 with yellow ochre, a warm color, and second Intaglio, 26 Y4 x 21 with black, a cool color), 24 x 21% . Lent by the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum Lent by the Pasadena Museum of Art (Mid-America Annual Collection) 30. ESPANA, 1956 I9. SPRING, 1947 Color intaglio (one plate printed twice, first Color Intaglio (9 plates), 23% x 8% with yellow ochre, a warm color, and second Lent by the Des Moines Art Center with. black, a cool color), 32 x 21 20. MY BOY, 1947 Lent by the Springfield Art Museum Color intaglio (5 plates), I7 x 14 3!. SELF PORTRAIT, 1957 Lent by the University of Nebraska, Engraving on magnesium (one plate printed Art Galleries twice, first with yellow ochre, a warm color, 21. SELF PORTRAIT, 1948 and second with black, a cool color),

Color intaglio (6 plates), 24Y4 x 16 36 X 20 % Lent by the W alker Art Center Lent by The Art Institute of Chicago, 22. PIETA, 1948 Gift of the Print and Drawing Club Color intaglio (9 plates), 19 % x 28 32. FATHER AND SON (FELIPE) , 1958 Lent by The Brooklyn Museum Engraving on magnesium, 3 5 % x 20% 2J. NEAR EAST PIETA, 1948 Lent by the artist Color intaglio (7 plates), 19 Y4 x 24 33· MY SON LEONARDO, 1959 Lent by the artist Color intaglio (4 plates), 25 Y4 x 16% 24. SELF PORTRAIT, 1950 Lent by the artist Color intaglio (5 plates), 21 x 19 Ys 34· SELF PORTRAIT, 1959 Lent by the Permanent Collection of the Color intaglio State University oflowa housed in the Iowa 67x20% Memorial Union Lent by the artist 25. BODAS DE SANGRE, 1951 35· MY DAUGHTER MARIA JIMENA, 1959

Color intaglio (9 plates), 20% x 28 7j8 Color intaglio on zinc (5 plates), 68% x 20 % Lent by the Philadelphia Museum of Art Lent by the artist 26. BOD AS DE SANGRE 36. MY WIFE AND TOMAS, 1959 (s tate) Color intaglio, trial state, 20 % x 28 % Color intaglio on zinc and copper Lent by the artist (9 plates), 75 x 20 Lent by the artist 19 1. Velorio, 1933 2. Ccrw, 1937 3· Changos Y Burros, 1937 4. Figura, 1938 5· Maternidad, 1938 6. El Presagio, 1940- 41 7· Auto Retrato, 1943 8. D oma, 1944 g. El Cid, 1944 1 o. La L agrima (The Tear), 1945 11. Sol Y Luna, 1945 12. SelfPortrait, 1945 lJ. Time in Space, 1946 14. Dachau, 1946 15 . For An Eye An Eye, I, 1946-48 16. For An Eye An Eye, II, 1946-48 17. For An Eye An Eye, III, 1946-48 18. For An Eye An Eye, IV, 1946-48 19. Spring, 1947 20. My Boy, 1947

21. Self Portrait, 1948 22. Pieta, 1948 23. N ear East (Pieta), 1948 26. Bodas De Sangre, 1951, trialprorlj 27. Bodas De Sangre 1951, copper plate 28. Fire Bird, 1952-53 29. The Vision, 1956 JO. Espaiia, 1956 --~.' i--~'.,,.,...;\ " ... -·· ~∙ \

I J I

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Jl. SelfPortrait, 1957 32. Father and Son (Felip e) , 1958 33· My Son L eonardo, 1959 35· My Daughter Maria Jimena, 1959 36. My Wife and Tomas, 1959 The retrospective exhibition of Mauricio Lasansky' s work, as well as this monograph, are part of a series produced in 1959- 1960 by The American Federation of Arts under a grant received from the Ford Foundation Program in the Humanities and the Arts. Other artists included are: Milton Avery, Andrew Dasburg, Jose de Creeft, Lee Gatch, Carl Morris, William Pachner, Walter Q~1irt, Abraham Rattner, Hugo Robus, Karl Schrag , and Everett Spruce.

The American Federation of Arts 1083 Fifth Allenue, New Yorle 28, N ew York Secretaryfor Publications: Margaret Cogswell Editor: Jean Campbell Jones Designer: Norman Ives Director ofExhibition: Robert Luck Exhibition Assistant: Norma Guinchi The American Federation of Arts, with headquarters at 1083 Fifth AFenue, , is a national, non- profit, educational organization,founded 1909 in Wash- ington, D.C. and incorporated 1916 in the State ofNew York. It is composed ofchapt er, individual, and corporate members. The purpose of the Federation is to wltitJate the appreciation and foster the production of art in America. This is carried out through a program of actitJities including traveling exhibitions, publications, national and regional conferences and consultation sertJices. This monograph has been printed in February, 1960, at the Thistle Press, New York. All engravings by Publicity Engravers, Baltimore. Photograph of Mauricio Lasansky on cotJer by Jervas Baldwin . . 50 per copy, paper; 2.00, cloth.