Mario Avati

Mario Avati was an Italian painter and engraver of the second half of the twentieth century and among the leading exponents of the mezzotint technique after Yozo Hamaguchi. Of Italian origin, Mario Avati was born in Monaco on May 27, 1921. While still very young, he moved to France, where he first attended the School of Decorative Arts in Nice and later the National School of Fine Arts in Paris, a city where he would spend most of his life. He graduated at just twenty years old, and already in 1947, thanks also to the influence of the master Édouard Joseph Goerg, an icon in the world of engraving and illustration at the time, he began to explore the techniques of etching and aquatint. The following ten years were characterized by experimentation for Mario Avati: indeed, he spent them deepening and refining his knowledge in the field of engraving, gradually approaching mezzotint, of which, by 1957, he became one of the leading exponents internationally.

The black manner, otherwise known as mezzotint, is one of the most complex and sophisticated engraving techniques ever developed, capable of creating works of great visual impact thanks to the contrast between light and shadow. The renowned art historian Jean Adhemar wrote in his works: "Avati's mezzotint expresses a strange and devastated universe." The black manner of the Italian-French engraver is indeed full of surrealism, even though the subjects of his engravings are generally simple still lifes like fruits, flowers, animals, or musical instruments.
The artist, moreover, is known for being particularly meticulous, especially regarding the choice of materials: he used almost exclusively high-quality rag paper. Mario Avati, furthermore, handled the entire lithographic process by himself, aware of how delicate the mezzotint process was and how fragile the works thus created were.
In 1955, he held four prestigious exhibitions in London, New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo, and in 1967, he collaborated with the Tamarind Institute, one of the most renowned lithography workshops, a branch of the University of New Mexico located in Albuquerque.
In 1965, at the Galleria Paul Proute in Paris, one of the most prestigious and extensive exhibitions of Mario Avati was held, and for the occasion, the artist himself sent a special invitation brochure, illustrated by him in the mezzotint technique, to a select group of friends and loyal clients. From 1969 onwards, Mario Avati turned to color, still using the mezzotint technique, but with the addition of watercolors.
Throughout his career, he received numerous awards and honors, including the Critics' Prize in 1957, the gold medal at the first Engraving Biennial in Florence in 1969, and the Nahed Ojjeh Prize from the Academy of Fine Arts in 1997. Additionally, he was part of the Society of French Painters and Engravers and was a distinguished member of the National Committee of French Engraving (now called the National Print Committee).
Mario Avati dies in Paris, the city where he worked and lived for almost his entire life, in 2009.