Louis Monza:
Self-Taught Painter, Sculptor. and Printmaker, 1939-1984

Born in 1897 in Turate, Italy, Monza was apprenticed to a provincial wood-carver and folk artisan at the age of seven. Arriving in New York City in 1913, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in World War I. Monza's early work depicted World War II with political commentaries such as "The Cosmic Tragedy" , 1943, in which Roman monuments fall while the head of Mussolini is displayed in the public square.

In 1946 Monza moved to California where he created prints and sculpture as well as drawings and paintings, which carried on a monologue of social and political commentary on topics ranging from technology and the aerospace industry to the effects of environmental pollution.

This show continues the Mishkin Gallery's focus on self-taught artists with an original exhibition -- the first large body of work by Louis Monza to be seen in New York.

© 1998 Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College