Julian Jordanov

Julian Jordanov, “Poetic Library”, Aquatint Bookplate, 2002, Printed on Fabriano Rosaspina 220 Paper

Julian Jordanov was born in Lovech, Bulgaria. He has continued to live and work there, after receiving his Masters in Fine Art from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. His prints are strongly influence by both surrealism and symbolism, and he is highly sought after for the specialized medium of creating ex libris prints. These smaller prints are almost always accomplished in etching and aquatint, and show a superb level of detail and skill hard to find outside eastern Europe. He also works in lithography for larger, more surrealistic prints.

More of his work can be found through Largo Art Gallery located in Varna, Bulgaria. Their site is https://www.largogallery.com

Dario Wolf

Dario Wolf, “Gli Amici, (The Friends)”, 1924, Copper Etching, 16.7 x 13 cm, Private Collection

Dario Wolf was born in Trento, Italy on December 3, 1901. He completed high school in Rome with honors in the art of composition and painting of the nude. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts under the guidance of Sigismund Lipinskj. In 1924, still a student, Wolf won the Calderon prize for his entered drawing of a nude.

He started his career as an engraver in 1921 with the wood engraving “Furor Animae” and established himself as an etcher with the plates “Powerful-Powerless”, “Superstition” and “Destiny”. He was a member of the Group of Engravers and Roman Artists, composed of twenty-five Italian and foreign artists.

Dario Wolf devoted himself to the process of etching on metal and the technique of aquatint, producing “The Accordion Player”, on a large zinc plate in 1957. He was one of the very few who devoted themselves to engraving in steel technology, the “black style” as attested by his important 1963 engravings:: his “Ethiopian” in 1966, and his “Vicolo dei Birri” in 1968.

“Etching is an art that can benefit more than any other to express moods fleeting, to realize the innermost thoughts and most complex, to express the life of things real and unreal atmosphere that goes from deep velvety shadows stretched to wrap lights enchanted ”- Dario Wolf

Joseph Mugnaini

Joseph Mugnaini, “Mr. Moundshroud”, 1971, Etcihing/ Aquatint, 40.6 x 31.1 cm, Collection of Ray Bradbury

This print was in Ray Bradbury’s personal collection. It is from a series of etchings done by Joseph Mugnaini for a collection of Ray Bradbury’s stories.

Joseph Anthony Mugnaini was born in Viareggio in the Tuscany region of Italy in 1912. He Immigrated with his family to the United States when he was three months old. He became an American citizen in 1941 and taught at the Pasadena School of Fine Arts, among others.

A talented lithographer, he is best known for his collaborations beginning in 1952 with writer Ray Badbury, who regarded him as both a friend and the best interpreter of his stories. As a result, he did the covers and interior art for several first editions of Bradbury’s works, as well as related projects like illustrations for a 1962 cartoon adaptation of Bradbury’s story “Icarus Montgolfier Wright”, originally printed in 1956.

For many, Mugnaini’s trademark style – an elongated human figure against a minimal or symbolic background – is indelibly linked with Bradbury’s fiction, explaining why his covers and interior art are still being used for recent editions of his works. Still, it should also be remembered that Mugnaini did provide evocative covers for a few books by other genre writers, including Robert Crane’s “Hero Walk”, Theodore Sturgeon’s “ A Touch of Strange”, and Louis Charbonneau’s “No Place on Earth”.

Mitsuo Shiraishi

Mitsuo Shiraishi, “The Woods Between”, Etching and Aquatint on Paper

Born in 1969, Mitsou Shiraishi lives and works in Mulhouse, France. After graduating from college in Japan, he studied fine art in France at “Les Beaux Arts” in Lyon and Mulhouse. Shiraishi also received guidance at the Rémy Bucciali studio in Colmar, which gave him the necessary experience to start as a graphic artist and with etchings.

Today, he is a highly qualified printmaker, and collaborates with various international artists. Since 1994 he has also had a large number of exhibitions at biennials and galleries around the world.

Mitsuo Shiraishi’s motifs are characterized by Japanese art history and background, with sober colors and a narrative of small objects in an open landscape where perspective is often absent.