American Monotypes from the Baker/Pisano Collection | Page 68

Marco Aurelio Tricca (American b. Italy, 1880–1969)
Prova Unica, n.d.

Color monotype, 5 3/4 x 5 in.
Collection of The Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York. Gift of
the Baker/Pisano Collection, 2001.9.247

The literal translation of “prova unica” is singular trial, in this
case, Italian for monotype. Completed in Rome, before Tricca
moved to the United States in 1912, it is evidence that the late
nineteenth century rediscovery of the medium had spread to
Italy—appropriate, since the monotype process had been
invented in Italy by the artist Giovanni Castiglione. Tricca was
a very good friend of Joseph Stella, a champion of his work
who had come to the States some fourteen years earlier.
Tricca exhibited widely in the 1930s, and is listed as a Works
Progress Administration (WPA) artist. In 1940, he was given
a solo exhibition at the prestigious Whitney Studio Club,
forerunner of the Whitney Museum of American Art.
NOTES:
For biographical information see, Tricca, BMA Artist Files, Brooklyn
Museum.

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