Arthur Luiz Piza

L'inconnue

1984

Piza was born in Sao Paulo in 1928, where he received his first training. He moved to Paris in 1955 and worked in the studio of the master of colour etching, Johnny Friedlaender. Piza soon became expert in all the techniques of etching and aquatint, using sugar-lift extensively, but he experimented in various ways to make his work more sculptural and three dimensional. He abandoned traditional etching techniques and, using very thick copper plates, he devised his unique "gouge" technique by incising his designs into his plates with hammers and various shaped chisels. The precision required is exact as his grooves need to be precisely deep and wide enough to hold his hand-made special inks. Because of the depths of the grooves, the direction of the wiping directly affects the final impression. Each impression of his prints requires at least 30 minutes between colours in order for the plate to be re-inked and wiped, and he has to use cold plates in order for the inks not to dry out. The process of producing each impression is a time consuming and laborious process of collaboration between Piza and his printers. His work has met with great success and is shown in major public collections world-wide, including MOMA in New York, the Bibliothèque Nationale and the Musée d'Art Nationale (Centre Pompidou) in Paris. He has been awarded numerous prizes, notably for etching, at the 1959 Sao Paolo Biennale and at Documenta Kassel in 1959. Public Collections: Solomon Guggenhiem Museum, Musee d’art de Lodz Albertine Musuem Belgrade Museum of Modern Art Rome National Gallery of Modern Art New York Musuem of Modern Art Victoria and Albert Musuem London Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Contempory Art San Paulo Museum of Modern Art Rio de Janeiro Museum of Modern Art San Paulo Museum of Modern Art Paris