I picked up two Andre Gide novels last year - The Immoralist and Strait is the Gate - purely for the covers alone, both by Antonio Frasconi. I’ve since discovered that not only has Frasconi done art for Langston Hughes (Let America be America Again) and Pablo Neruda (Bestiary/Bestiario), he’s also illustrated Poe, and this is currently showing in Baltimore as part of Nevermore 2009. There’s not a lot of information on Frasconi on-line, which is a pity, but what I have learned is that Frasconi moved to the US from Uruguay in the 1940s, illustrated and designed over 100 books – including children’s books – and spent a decade working on Los Desaparecidos/The Disappeared, on the horrors of torture and incarceration under the Uruguayan dictatorship. There were three Frasconis in the Creative Dialogues exhibition last month at Norwalk Public Library and Frasconi, now 90 years of age, spoke to the The Hour about those pieces:
Although Frasconi resists being labeled as a political artist, the three pieces selected for the show have a decidedly political tone. “I am the Farmer Bondsman to the Soul” depicts the American Flag, the faces of black men and the words to Hughes’ poem “Let America be America Again.” “Mission Accomplished” is a poster mocking former President George W. Bush’s May 1, 2003, televised address, delivered on the USS Abraham Lincoln. At the time, the former president stated that the U.S. was putting an end to combat operations in Iraq. Frasconi’s poster depicts the former president giving a thumbs up and also gives the toll of the dead and the wounded in Iraq.
The third piece is titled “Mario Savio,” and depicts Savio, an activist with the free speech movement in Berkeley, Calif., delivering his “put your bodies upon the gears” address at the University of California.
“My work is not decorative,” said Frasconi.
Frasconi’s art works for children will be on display at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art from March of next year. Before that, though, you can enjoy some of Frasconi’s book covers courtesy of of Karl Katz.
First posted: Monday, November 2nd, 2009.
