MARIO AVATI (Monaco /
1921-2009)
Mario Avati, the modern master of the mezzotint, was equally at home with etching and aquatint, drypoint, and lithography. Avati was born in Monaco in 1921. He studied at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Nice, and then at the Beaux-Arts, Paris, the city in which he was to live and work. Mario Avati saw his art is evoking "the eternal struggle between light and darkness". So it was natural that he would eventually be drawn to the difficult medium of the mezzotint, in which the image seems to be magically summoned from a sea of dense black. Before he mastered the mezzotint, Avati was already approximating a mezzotint effect by subtle use of aquatint. See: Dassonville, Les Livres Illustrés par Avati, 1969; Passeron, Avati: L’Oeuvre Gravé, catalogue raisonné.
See also:
JEAN DUBUFFET
MICHEL ESTÈBE
MICHEL MATHONNAT
Selected prints by
MARIO AVATI
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Winter-piece,
2000
Mezzotint |
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Le convive des
dernières fêtes
(Tightrope walker),
1955
Drawing |
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Man with a demon on
his back,
1950
Etching/aquatint |
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View all available prints by
MARIO AVATI
