March 29, 2017

Block Printmaker Disertori

        This is the time to point out that for each letter of the alphabet there are multiple possible artists that I haven’t yet featured.  For purposes of these posts I’m not choosing the artists who could have the longest posts of their own in which I have difficulty selecting only five or six pieces to share.  Instead, to keep things simple, I’m picking the one-hit wonders, the artists about whom I have little information, or those for whom I have only one or two pieces to share.  There will, of course, be plenty more posts about plenty more artists in the future.  For today I have Benvenuto Disertori (Italy, 1887-1969) and a piece I discovered in The New Woodcut from 1930.  I like the silhouetted feel of the cactus, and how the piece gives an impression of being very simple, when in fact there’s really quite a lot of delicate detail.
        One more tiny, pleasing piece by Disertori is apparently an Ex Libris, of which he did many.  I don’t know how useful a bookplate it is without the owner’s name, but that just makes it all the better as a miniature work of art that anyone can enjoy.

        Additional D printmakers who have already been featured include:

[Pictures: The Cactus, wood block print by Benvenuto Disertori, 1920s;
Il Giardino Chiuso (The Enclosed Garden, ex libris for U. Salvi) woodcut by Disertori, 1923 (Image from Mattia Jona).]



A-Z Challenge, all posts for the letter D

4 comments:

Tamara Narayan said...

What intricate prints! I love the plant themes here.

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lorig said...

Amazing detail. Thank you for highlighting this piece of art.

Sharon Himsl said...

Fascinating. I wish we could see the process. How many hours did it take to make?

"Female Scientists Before Our Time"
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Anne E.G. Nydam said...

I can't say how long it took Disertori to do this piece and of course artists vary widely in their speed of work, but by comparison with my own rate of work I'd guess maybe 5 hours or so for carving, plus however long to draw the sketch ahead of time, and however long to print from the block after carving.