Artist in Profile: Letterio Calapai (1902-1993)

October 16, 2016

Artist in Profile: Letterio Calapai (1902-1993)

My survey of new American prints in the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is coming to an end this month with the addition of three new profiles of American printmakers to the Sacred Artists section. This week's featured artist could justifiably be called the American printmakers' printmaker. Boston-born Letterio Calapai not only made prints, he also taught the graphic arts, and printed the prints of fellow artists. Calapai had originally shown talent as a painter, but after his portfolio of work was destroyed in a fire, he went to New York and found work in a lithography shop. Ink entered his blood, and he devoted the rest of his career primarily to the graphic arts. His work evolved from a Social Realist style into Abstract Expressionism (under the influence of Modernist Stanley William Hayter), then, back to realistic expressionism at the end of his career. You can find prints on biblical themes in all these styles in the new Letterio Calapai profile page in the Sacred Artists section. (John Kohan)