Alessandro Nastasio On Sale

Alessandro Nastasio was born in Milan in 1934. In 1952, he followed the free school of the nude led by Aldo Salvatori. In 1960, he attended the Atelier of Giorgio Upilio, where Giacometti, Lam, Fontana, De Chirico worked and where he had the opportunity to study the themes of the inspiring myths. He worked at the MAF foundry with the master Tullio Figini who shared the secrets of the lost wax Renaissance fusion and where he met the masters Crocetti, Manfrini, Manzu, Minguzzi, Fabbri. Nastasio then moved on to Quinto de Stampi at the De Andreis foundry where Marino Marini, Pomodoro, Rudy Wach, Strebelle, Negri and Rosental operated. A regular reader of the great Sapienza texts of antiquity, he trained in particular on the Bible, which he illustrated with woodcuts, aquatints, etchings and linocuts, especially the Song of Songs, the book of Ecclesiastes and several pages of the Gospels. He also drew his inspiration from the philosophical-religious tradition of the Eastern world through the reading of Rig-Veda, Upanishad and the Matnavi of Rumi. In 1966–67, he obtained the chair at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera and for 30 years, he devoted himself to the teaching of Art Education in various schools. Nastasio created works both pictorial and plastic in collaboration with famous architects such as Figini and Pollini, De Carli, Gardella, Faranda, Selleri, Ponti. His talent soon came to the attention of various art dealers Max G. Bollag of Zurich and Paul Marmaridis of Athens and later Georges Zeenny of Beirut, who bought his works and included him among the masters of contemporary art. He has exhibited in numerous solo shows in Italy and abroad, including the last ones in 2013, Verdi Meetings and Suggestions (1813–1913), Spazio Oberdan, Milan and Trezzo sull’Adda, Anthology of bronzes and paintings presented by Laura Bosio, Municipality of Pessano con Bornago in 2014 Bronze Portal Porta Fidei, SS. Martyrs Nazaro and Celso, presentation by Renzo Sala. Nastasio lives and works in Milan.

Decorating with fine art prints — whether they’re figurative prints, abstract prints or another variety — has always been a practical way of bringing a space to life as well as bringing works by an artist you love into your home.

Pursued in the 1960s and ’70s, largely by Pop artists drawn to its associations with mass production, advertising, packaging and seriality, as well as those challenging the primacy of the Abstract Expressionist brushstroke, printmaking was embraced in the 1980s by painters and conceptual artists ranging from David Salle and Elizabeth Murray to Adrian Piper and Sherrie Levine.

Printmaking is the transfer of an image from one surface to another. An artist takes a material like stone, metal, wood or wax, carves, incises, draws or otherwise marks it with an image, inks or paints it and then transfers the image to a piece of paper or other material.

Fine art prints are frequently confused with their more commercial counterparts. After all, our closest connection to the printed image is through mass-produced newspapers, magazines and books, and many people don’t realize that even though prints are editions, they start with an original image created by an artist with the intent of reproducing it in a small batch. Fine art prints are created in strictly limited editions — 20 or 30 or maybe 50 — and are always based on an image created specifically to be made into an edition.

Many people think of revered Dutch artist Rembrandt as a painter but may not know that he was a printmaker as well. His prints have been preserved in time along with the work of other celebrated printmakers such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol. These fine art prints are still highly sought after by collectors.

“It’s another tool in the artist’s toolbox, just like painting or sculpture or anything else that an artist uses in the service of mark making or expressing him- or herself,” says International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) vice president Betsy Senior, of New York’s Betsy Senior Fine Art, Inc.

Because artist’s editions tend to be more affordable and available than his or her unique works, they’re more accessible and can be a great opportunity to bring a variety of colors, textures and shapes into a space.

For tight corners, select small fine art prints as opposed to the oversized bold piece you’ll hang as a focal point in the dining area. But be careful not to choose something that is too big for your space. And feel free to lean into it if need be — not every work needs picture-hanging hooks. Leaning a larger fine art print against the wall behind a bookcase can add a stylish installation-type dynamic to your living room. (Read more about how to arrange wall art here.)

Find fine art prints for sale on 1stDibs today.