Happy 90th, Antonio Frasconi! (Uruguayan artist; 1958 Caldecott Honor: "The House That Jack Built")
leno...@yahoo.com
weeks later, where he grew up. He moved to the U.S. at age 26.
Two addresses I have for him are Norwalk, Connecticut and Santa
Barbara, California.
Books he's illustrated include works by Walt Whitman, Herman Melville,
Aesop, Jorge Luis Borges, Ruth Krauss, Pablo Neruda, Louis Untermeyer,
Norma Farber, Jan Wahl, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Octavio Paz, Barbara
Wersba, Abraham Lincoln, Federico García Lorca, & Italo Calvino.
From "Authors and Artists for Young Adults":
"We live in an age where words are really more important than what you
do with images," artist Antonio Frasconi said to Robert Berlind in an
interview for Art Journal. "If you deal with images, it's better if
you explain it than just show it. . . . What I'm doing now,
technically, as an extension of my head--arms and fingers and tools--
is exactly what I have been doing since I started fifty years ago."
Called a "master of graphic art, especially woodcut," by Bill Zimmer
in the New York Times, and a "champion of the common man, enemy of
elitism, printmaker, and teacher" by Americas essayist Caleb Bach,
Argentina-born Frasconi has long been recognized as one of the
foremost woodcut artists living and working in the United States.
Frasconi's work, which is well represented in the nation's museums and
galleries, has also found a wide audience through book and magazine
illustrations, book-cover art, and even Christmas cards. Using simple
tools and an ancient technique, Frasconi has created a diverse body of
work that addresses politics, American and European literature,
American scenes, and lighthearted pictures for children........
...........Speaking heavily accented Spanish in public and Italian at
home, Frasconi felt like an outsider in his new home. "I was what I
guess Americans would call a loner," the artist remembered in his
introduction to Frasconi against the Grain: The Woodcuts of Antonio
Frasconi. His refuge became art; he loved to draw and to decorate his
homework, and some of his teachers encouraged him to develop his
talent. His mother, on the other hand, discouraged him from pursuing a
career as an artist because "she felt that if I had the divine gift, I
wouldn't be where I was--part of a working class family that was in
the restaurant business."...........
.........."Our high school was based in more European culture--all of
our records were Italian operas, which I hated. Jazz meant freedom, a
cultural revolution to me."...........
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=antonio+frasconi&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=
(artwork)
WORKS
Writings
SELF-ILLUSTRATED
1955: See and Say: A Picture Book in Four Languages, Harcourt (New
York, NY).
1958: The House That Jack Built: A Picture Book in Two Languages,
Harcourt (New York, NY).
1961: The Snow and the Sun/La nieve y el sol: A South American Folk
Rhyme in Two Languages, Harcourt (New York, NY).
1964: A Sunday in Monterey, Harcourt (New York, NY).
1964: See Again, Say Again: A Picture Book in Four Languages, Harcourt
(New York, NY).
1968: Kaleidoscope in Woodcuts, Harcourt (New York, NY).
1969: (Editor) Walt Whitman, Overhead the Sun: Lines from Walt
Whitman, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY).
1971: (Editor) Herman Melville, On the Slain Collegians: Selections
from Poems, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY).
1974: Antonio Frasconi's World, Macmillan (New York, NY).
1974: Frasconi against the Grain: The Woodcuts of Antonio Frasconi,
introduction by Nat Hentoff, Macmillan (New York, NY).
ILLUSTRATOR
1954: Glenway Wescott, reteller, Twelve Fables of Aesop, Museum of
Modern Art (New York, NY), revised edition, 1964.
1964: Jorge Luis Borges, Dreamtigers, University of Texas Press
(Austin, TX).
1965: Ruth Krauss, The Cantilever Rainbow, Pantheon (New York, NY).
1965: Pablo Neruda, Bestiary/Bestiario (verse), translated by Elsa
Neuberger, Harcourt (New York, NY).
1965: Louis Untermeyer, editor, Love Lyrics, Odyssey Press (New York,
NY).
1969: Mario Benedetti, editor, Unstill Life: An Introduction to the
Spanish Poetry of Latin America, Harcourt (New York, NY).
1970: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Elijah the Slave: A Hebrew Legend Retold,
Farrar, Straus (New York, NY).
1970: Gabriela Mistral, Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral, Johns
Hopkins University Press (Baltimore, MD).
1972: Gabriela Mistral, Crickets and Frogs: A Fable in Spanish and
English, translated by Doris Dana, Atheneum (New York, NY).
1974: Gabriela Mistral, The Elephant and His Secret, translated by
Doris Dana, Atheneum (New York, NY).
1975: Myra Cohn Livingston, editor, One Little Room, an Everywhere:
Poems of Love, Atheneum (New York, NY).
1978: Penelope Farmer, compiler, Beginnings: Creation Myths of the
World, Chatto and Windus (London, England), Atheneum (New York, NY),
1979.
1978: Norma Faber, How the Left-behind Beasts Built Ararat, Walker
(New York, NY).
1981: Jan Wahl, The Little Blind Goat, Stemmer House (Owing Mills,
MD).
1982: Mercè Rodereda, The Salamander, Red Ozier Press (Port of New
York, NY).
1983: Mercè Rodereda, Two Tales, translated from the Catalan by David
Rosenthal, Red Ozier Press (Port of New York, NY).
1983: Isaac Bashevis Singer, Yentl the Yeshiva Boy, translated by
Marion Magid and Elizabeth Pollet, Farrar, Straus (New York, NY).
1984: Myra Cohn Livingston, Monkey Puzzle and Other Poems, Atheneum
(New York, NY).
1985: Octavio Paz, Cuatro chopos = The Four Poplars, translated by
Elliot Weinberger, SUNY Center for Edition Works (Purchase, NY).
1986: Muso Soseki, Sun at Midnight: 23 Poems, translated from Japanese
by W. S. Merwin, Nadja (New York, NY).
1986: Carlos Oquendo de Amat, Five Meters of Poems, Turkey Press.
1990: Myra Cohn Livingston, If the Owl Calls Again: A Collection of
Owl Poems, Macmillan (New York, NY).
1992: Valerie Worth, At Christmastime (poetry), HarperCollins (New
York, NY).
1994: Juan Ramón Jiménez, Platero y yo = Platero and I, adapted and
translated by Myra Cohn Livingston and Joseph F. Dominguez, Clarion
(New York, NY).
1995: Martha Robinson, The Zoo at Night, Margaret K. McElderry (New
York, NY).
1998: Barbara Wersba, The Wings of Courage, Braziller (New York, NY).
LIMITED EDITIONS; ILLUSTRATED WITH WOODCUTS
1950: Aesop, Some Well-known Fables, privately printed.
1951: A Book of Vegetable Plants, privately printed.
1951-1952: Foothill Dairy, privately printed.
Foothill Dairy, privately printed.
1951-1952: The World upside Down, privately printed.
1952: The World upside Down, privately printed.
1951-1952: The Fulton Fish Market, privately printed.
1953: The Fulton Fish Market, privately printed.
1951-1952: Federico García Lorca, Dos Poemas de Federico García Lorca:
Romance de la luna, luna; Romance de la guardia civil española,
privately printed.
1953: Federico García Lorca, Dos Poemas de Federico García Lorca:
Romance de la luna, luna; Romance de la guardia civil española,
privately printed.
1951-1952: Outdoors, privately printed.
1953: Outdoors, privately printed.
1951-1952: Plants, Ants, and Other Insects, privately printed.
1953: Plants, Ants, and Other Insects, privately printed.
1951-1952: Santa Barbara, privately printed.
1953: Santa Barbara, privately printed.
1951-1952: The Acrobats, privately printed.
1954: The Acrobats, privately printed.
1951-1952: El camino real, privately printed.
1954: El camino real, privately printed.
1951-1952: Lettuce Country, privately printed.
1954: Lettuce Country, privately printed.
1951-1952: Printing with Dough, privately printed.
1954: Printing with Dough, privately printed.
1951-1952: A Book of Many Suns, privately printed.
1955: A Book of Many Suns, privately printed.
1951-1952: Fire Island Dunes, privately printed.
1955: Fire Island Dunes, privately printed.
1951-1952: High Tide, privately printed.
1955: High Tide, privately printed.
1951-1952: Abraham Lincoln, The Fundamental Creed of Abraham Lincoln:
A Selection from His Writings and Speeches, edited by Earl Schenk
Miers, privately printed.
1956: Abraham Lincoln, The Fundamental Creed of Abraham Lincoln: A
Selection from His Writings and Speeches, edited by Earl Schenk Miers,
privately printed.
1951-1952: An Old Czech Carol, Murray Printers.
1956: An Old Czech Carol, Murray Printers.
1951-1952: Woodcuts 1957, Spiral Press (New York, NY), published as
Woodcuts: With Comments by Antonio Frasconi, Weyhe Gallery (New York,
NY), 1957.
1957: Woodcuts 1957, Spiral Press (New York, NY), published as
Woodcuts: With Comments by Antonio Frasconi, Weyhe Gallery (New York,
NY), 1957.
1951-1952: Homage to Thelonious Monk, privately printed.
1958: Homage to Thelonious Monk, privately printed.
1951-1952: Birds from My Homeland: Ten Hand-Colored Woodcuts with
Notes from W. H. Hudson's "Birds of La Plata," Roodenko.
1958: Birds from My Homeland: Ten Hand-Colored Woodcuts with Notes
from W. H. Hudson's "Birds of La Plata," Roodenko.
1951-1952: A Calendar for 1960, privately printed.
1959: A Calendar for 1960, privately printed.
1951-1952: The Face of Edgar Allan Poe: With a Note on Poe by Charles
Baudelaire, Roodenko.
1959: The Face of Edgar Allan Poe: With a Note on Poe by Charles
Baudelaire, Roodenko.
1951-1952: Walt Whitman, A Whitman Portrait, Spiral Press (New York,
NY).
1960: Walt Whitman, A Whitman Portrait, Spiral Press (New York, NY).
1951-1952: Six Spanish Nursery Rhymes, privately printed.
1960: Six Spanish Nursery Rhymes, privately printed.
1951-1952: American Wild Flowers, privately printed.
1961: American Wild Flowers, privately printed.
1951-1952: Berthold Brecht, Das Lied vom Sa-mann, Spiral Press (New
York, NY).
1961: Berthold Brecht, Das Lied vom Sa-mann, Spiral Press (New York,
NY).
1951-1952: Oda a Lorca, privately printed.
1962: Oda a Lorca, privately printed.
1951-1952: Known Fables, Spiral Press (New York, NY).
1964: Known Fables, Spiral Press (New York, NY).
1951-1952: Six South American Folk Rhymes about Love: With Woodcuts,
Spiral Press (New York, NY).
1964: Six South American Folk Rhymes about Love: With Woodcuts, Spiral
Press (New York, NY).
1951-1952: An Appointment Calendar for 1966, Baltimore Museum of Art
(Baltimore, MD).
1965: An Appointment Calendar for 1966, Baltimore Museum of Art
(Baltimore, MD).
1951-1952: Henry David Thoreau, A Vision of Thoreau, Spiral Press (New
York, NY).
1965: Henry David Thoreau, A Vision of Thoreau, Spiral Press (New
York, NY).
1951-1952: Federico García Lorca, Llanto por Ignacio Sanches Mejias,
privately printed.
1967: Federico García Lorca, Llanto por Ignacio Sanches Mejias,
privately printed.
1951-1952: The Portrait, privately printed.
1967: The Portrait, privately printed.
1951-1952: Quattro facciate, privately printed.
1967: Quattro facciate, privately printed.
1951-1952: Viet Nam!, privately printed.
1967: Viet Nam!, privately printed.
1951-1952: Benedetti, selector, 19 Poems de Hispano America, privately
printed.
1969: Benedetti, selector, 19 Poems de Hispano America, privately
printed.
1951-1952: Vedute di Venezia, Spiral Press (New York, NY).
1969: Vedute di Venezia, Spiral Press (New York, NY).
1951-1952: Fourteen Americans, privately printed.
1974: Fourteen Americans, privately printed.
1951-1952: Venice Remembered, privately printed.
1974: Venice Remembered, privately printed.
1951-1952: A View of Tuscany, privately printed.
1974: A View of Tuscany, privately printed.
1974-1975: Cantos a García Lorca, privately printed.
Cantos a García Lorca, privately printed.
1974-1975: The Seasons on the Sound, privately printed.
The Seasons on the Sound, privately printed.
1974-1975: The Sound, privately printed.
The Sound, privately printed.
1974-1975: Frasconi's Composite Side Show, privately printed.
1978: Frasconi's Composite Side Show, privately printed.
1974-1975: Frasconi's Night Creatures, privately printed.
1978: Frasconi's Night Creatures, privately printed.
1974-1975: The Tides at Village Creek, privately printed.
1979: The Tides at Village Creek, privately printed.
1974-1975: Monet Gardens, Giverny, privately printed.
1980: Monet Gardens, Giverny, privately printed.
1974-1975: The USA from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge,
California to the George Washington Bridge, New York, Every Six Miles,
privately printed.
1982: The USA from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, California to
the George Washington Bridge, New York, Every Six Miles, privately
printed.
1974-1975: Ten Views of Rome, privately printed.
1983: Ten Views of Rome, privately printed.
1974-1975: Theodore Low de Vinne, The First Editor: Aldus Pius
Manutius, privately printed.
1983: Theodore Low de Vinne, The First Editor: Aldus Pius Manutius,
privately printed.
1974-1975: Los desaparecidos, privately printed.
1984: Los desaparecidos, privately printed.
1974-1975: Italo Calvino, Prima che tu dica "Pronto," translated by
William Weaver, Plain Wrapper Press (Cottondale, AL).
1985: Italo Calvino, Prima che tu dica "Pronto," translated by William
Weaver, Plain Wrapper Press (Cottondale, AL).
1974-1975: Travels through Tuscany, privately printed.
1985: Travels through Tuscany, privately printed.
1974-1975: Views of Venice by Day and Night, privately printed.
1986: Views of Venice by Day and Night, privately printed.
1974-1975: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friendship: An Emerson Homage in
Remembrance of Joseph Blumenthal, Kelly-Winterton Press (New York,
NY).
1993: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friendship: An Emerson Homage in
Remembrance of Joseph Blumenthal, Kelly-Winterton Press (New York,
NY).
OTHER
1974-1975: The Neighboring Shore (film), Sextant.
1960: The Neighboring Shore (film), Sextant.
1974-1975: The Woodcuts of Antonio Frasconi (film), American
Federation of Arts.
1985: The Woodcuts of Antonio Frasconi (film), American Federation of
Arts.
Lenona.
leno...@yahoo.com
> weeks later, where he grew up. He moved to the U.S. at age 26.
>
> Two addresses I have for him are Norwalk, Connecticut and Santa
> Barbara, California.
I got an email from his son. Quote:
".....He still lives in South Norwalk, CT, where he has lived for over
50 years............Antonio is still working hard. He just finished a
portrait of Obama, and is preparing for a big show at Carle Museum of
Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA, opening March 2010."
Lenona.