Frasconi, Antonio

Frasconi, Antonio äntōˈnyō fräskōˈnē [key], 1919–2013, American graphic artist, b. Buenos Aires. His family moved to Uruguay weeks after his birth. Frasconi immigrated to the United States in 1945, where he had an influential and revitalizing effect on the art of woodblock printing; he has been hailed as probably the finest woodcut artist of his generation. His gaily colored, forceful prints illustrate everyday scenes and activities. His work often addresses such social ills as war, poverty, and racism, and he is particularly known for a series of portraits of those who were brutalized under Uruguay's military rule (1973–85). Other prints are fanciful and light-hearted. Frasconi also designed covers for books, magazines, and records. Among his more than 100 illustrated books are See and Say (1955), Frasconi Woodcuts (1958), A Whitman Portrait (1960), and A Kaleidoscope in Woodcuts (1968).

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