Artists You Should Know: Leon Dolice

One really wonderful aspect of being the About Art History Guide is hearing from nice people like Joe Dolice. Joe wrote to point me towards his father, Leon, an artist who lived and worked in Manhattan for 40 years. He arrived in America in 1920, and seems to have fallen in love with New York City. Something truly remarkable about Leon is that his city scenes are almost all worked from copperplate etchings. If you've never tried etching a plate, let me assure you it's about the most tedious medium a person can tackle (which is probably why hardly anyone works in it these days). So, not only did Leon have a prolific output, he did it the hard way!

In this post-September 11th era, there has been a lot of renewed interest in "old" New York. Leon Dolice's scenes represent NYC streets and landmarks that have either changed radically or disappeared altogether. Joe Dolice would like to get the word out that a traveling exhibition featuring many of these etchings, entitled "Vintage New York", is available to museums, schools and other institutions at no charge. To get the details, please visit Vintage New York here. Thanks very much, Joe.