Alberto Nicasio (August 10, 1902 – July 4, 1980) was an Argentine artist (xylographer) and educator. He was a member of the Argentinian National Academy of Arts.[1][2][3][4][5][6] A street in the city of Córdoba and a primary school in the province are named after him.[2][7]
Alberto Nicasio was born in Marseille, France, on 10 August 1902, the son of Alfredo Nicasio and Eugenia Lasserre.[2] As a young child, his parents decided to settle in the city of Oran, Algeria (then French territory); but due to the outbreak of the First World War, the family decided to emigrate to Argentina in 1916, finally settling in the city of Córdoba. There, Nicasio trained in drawing and painting at the Provincial School of Fine Arts with masters such as Emiliano Gómez Clara, Manuel Cardeñosa and Carlos Camiloni, and then began to study the technique of wood engraving.[1][8][9] He married María Elena Las Heras in 1930;[10] they had two daughters, María Elena and Carmen Olga.
As an artist, he participated in biennials in São Paulo, Mexico and Switzerland; he also participated in group exhibitions in the United States, Japan, Belgium, the Vatican, Spain, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil.[1][2][8][9][11][12][13] He illustrated various books, such as Sarmiento's Facundo, José Hernández's Martín Fierro, Adonais, Percy Shelley's elegy and 30 woodcuts on William Henry Hudson's Tierra Purpúrea, among others.[1][2][14] A number of exhibitions of his work were held posthumously.[15][16]
Description of his work
[edit]"Lectoras" (Readers), xylography by Alberto Nicasio, 1954"Suburbio cordobés" (Suburbs of Córdoba), xylography by Alberto Nicasio, 1956"Formas contrastadas" (Contrasted shapes), polychrome xylography by Alberto Nicasio, 1970
Nicasio began experimenting with drawing and oil painting, and took part in group exhibitions in 1927[17] and 1928.[18] Later, however, he abandoned his period as a painter and transitioned to woodcut, to which he dedicated the rest of his life.[8][19][20][21]
Nicasio's oeuvre can be divided into periods in which his art varied. The first period was marked by a figurative character, depicting urban and suburban landscapes of Córdoba. These early engravings show the façades of buildings symbolic of Córdoba's colonial period, such as the Cathedral of Córdoba, or the buildings of the complex known as La Manzana Jesuítica, which includes the Compañía de Jesús and the Colegio Nacional de Montserrat. Also of note during this period were his landscape engravings such as La Cañada de Córdoba, as well as others such as the Barrancas de Córdoba and the old Suburbio Cordobés.[22][23]
As a result of his interest in avant-garde art, he later began to experiment with geometrisation and abstract art. Thus, the following period of his work is characterised by a tendency towards abstraction, with simpler and more schematic forms, which would later evolve towards a more surrealist period.[2][8][24][25]
A final period is characterised by the irruption of colour, in sharp contrast with his previous work in monochrome. At this stage, with the use of saturated inks (red, green and ochre), he approaches a neo-figurativism, but more synthetic and schematic.[2]
An important part of his life was his vocation as a teacher, in which he was dedicated to training successive generations of students. Some of them would later become renowned Argentine artists, such as Pedro Pont Vergés; Marcelo Bonevardi; Ronaldo de Juan; Alfio Grifasi; César Miranda, Raúl Pecker; José De Monte and Antonio Seguí, among others.[26]
He taught in normal and secondary schools.[8] He began teaching drawing at the Escuelas Pías (1931–1932) and at the Colegio Santo Tomás (1932–1942). Later, he was founder and director of the School of Engraving of the Society of Artists of Córdoba and professor of engraving at the Association of Painters and Sculptors of Córdoba (1939–1940). He founded the first engraving workshop in Córdoba at the Escuela Normal Superior Dr. Agulla (1942–1947).[2][27] In 1950, he won the Chair of Engraving and later the directorship of the Escuela Superior de Artes (today the Faculty of Arts) of the National University of Córdoba.[27]
^ abcdefghijk"Muestra homenaje a Alberto Nicasio". La Voz del Interior, 22 August 1982.
^ abcdefghijklmn"Alberto Nicasio: el cantar de la madera", by Armando Sica. La Voz del Interior, 1 July 1984.
^ ab"Muestra de Nicasio en la Fundación Independencia". La Voz del Interior, 2 June 1989.
^ ab"Grabados de Nicasio". La Voz del Interior, 1 July 1989.
^ abc"Muestra-homenaje a Alberto Nicasio". La Voz del Interior, 4 July 1985.
^ ab"Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes – Folleto 1936–1976". Compañía Impresora Argentina, 29 July 1976.
^ ab"Alberto Nicasio", by Carlos A. Ighina. Revista Centro de Participación Comunal, year 1, number 1, November 1994, Municipalidad de Córdoba.
^ abcde"El autor del milagro: Alberto Nicasio o la sugerencia". La Voz del Interior, 2 March 1980.
^ ab"Falleció Alberto Nicasio: figura señera de la plástica cordobesa", La Voz del Interior, 6 July 1980.
^"Cómo viven y piensan los que cultivan las Bellas Letras y el Arte: Se propone ilustrar el Facundo, de Sarmiento, Alberto Nicasio, xilografista de personalidad". La Voz del Interior, 7 February 1935.
^ abc"Prison Museum to feature Argentinian Art Engraving". Burlington County Herald, 25 September 1969.
^ ab"Argentine Art Engraving to be shown at museum". Sunday Times Advertiser, 28 September 1969.
^"Exhibits of Art". The Magazine, 12 December 1982.
^El Grabado en las Ediciones Argentinas, Museo del Grabado. Biblioteca Nacional. October 1967.
^"Continúan exponiendo". La Voz del Interior, 18 July 1985.
^ abc"Exposiciones: Genaro Pérez". La Voz del Interior, 4 July 1995.
^"En el Primer Salón de Arte se revelan nuevos y vigorosos artistas". La Voz del Interior, 23 November 1927.
^"Ecos del segundo salón de arte libre". La Voz del Interior, 28 November 1928.
^ ab"Obras que figuran en el II Salón Anual de Bellas Artes de Córdoba". La Prensa, 15 November 1934.
^ ab"Exposición de grabadores argentinos premiados en el Salón Nacional". La Prensa, 13 August 1944.
^ ab"Noticias del Ministerio de Educación, Provincia de Buenos Aires", 14 March 1957.
^ abcd"Córdoba de ayer en las xilografías de Nicasio", La Voz del Interior, 22 July 1984.
^ abcEnciclopedia Visual de la Argentina. Buenos Aires, Clarín, 2002.
^"Art from Argentina finds home in Burlington County", by George Atkinson, Sunday Times Advertiser, Trenton, New Jersey, 5 October 1969.
^Boletín de música y artes visuales. Departamento de Asuntos Culturales - Unión Panamericana, Washington 6, D.C. Issues 17-18. July–August 1951, page 29.
Nicasio, Alberto; Grimaut, Azor. La Cañada. Estampas de Córdoba = La Cañada. Engravings of Cordoba. [Córdoba, Argentina]: [Litvack], 1944. OCLC28516759
Nicasio, Alberto. Monumentos Coloniales de Córdoba = Colonial Monuments of Córdoba, prologued by Carlos Luque Colombres. [Córdoba, Argentina]: [Biffignandi], 1956. OCLC82094264
Nicasio, Alberto. Iglesias de Córdoba; estampas xilográficas = Churches of Cordoba; xylographic engravings. [Córdoba, Argentina]: [Oficina del Album del VI Congreso Eucarístico Nacional], 1959. OCLC18133143
Nicasio, Alberto. Capillas coloniales de Córdoba: 12 xilografias = Colonial chapels of Córdoba: 12 woodcuts. [Córdoba, Argentina]: [Universidad Nacional de Córdoba], 1961. Twelve woodcuts, and a prologue by Marcelo Montes Pacheco. OCLC47521772
Nicasio, Alberto. Grabados de alumnos de la Escuela de Artes, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba = Engravings by students of the School of Arts, National University of Córdoba. [Córdoba, Argentina]: [Pabellón Méjico-Ciudad Universitaria], 1963. OCLC470181649
Nicasio, Alberto. 30 Xilografías sobre motivos de La Tierra Purpúrea, de Guillermo Enrique Hudson. [Córdoba, Argentina]: [Litvack].
Pan American Union. Three engravers of Argentina : Amadeo dell'Acqua, Alberto Nicasio, Victor Rebuffo. [Washingnton D.C., USA]: [The Union], 1949. OCLC82562298
Pécora, Óscar and Barranco, Ulises. Sesenta y cinco grabados en madera. La xilografía en el Río de la Plata = Sixty-five wood engravings. Xylography in the River Plate. [Buenos Aires, Argentina]: [Plástica], 1943. OCLC86095008
Rizzuto, Manuel Alfredo. Historia y evocación de Alta Gracia = History and evocation of Alta Gracia. [Córdoba, Argentina]: [Asociación Alta Gracia y sus Sierras], 1943. OCLC81530525
