Lawrence Calcagno was born in San Francisco in 1913. He was raised on his father’s farm near Big Sur, and was greatly influenced by his surroundings as he developed his artistic skills. He attended the California School of Fine Arts on the GI Bill, from 1947-1950, and then lived and worked in Europe and North Africa from 1950 to 1955. He continued to work and exhibit throughout his life, and is included in collections and museums internationally. He died in 1993.

Add’tl. education: Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris, 1950-1951; Instituto d'Arte Statale, Florence, 1951-1952. Calcagno worked and studied independently in Paris, 1953-1955.

Teaching: New York University, New York, 1960-1961; Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, 1965-1968.

Solo Exhibitions: Little Gallery, New Orleans, 1945; Lucien Labaudt Gallery, San Francisco, 1948, 1954; Studio Paul Facchetti, Paris, 1955; Martha Jackson, New York, 1955, 1958, 1960, 1962; Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1956; Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City, 1961; Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, 1965; Houston Museum of Fine Arts, 1965; Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Pennsylvania, 1967; Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1968, 1969; Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1973-1975, traveling exhibition; Contemporary Art Center, Honolulu, 1976; others.

Selected Group Exhibitions: The Oakland Museum, California. A Period of Exploration: San Francisco 1945-1950; 1973;

Public Collections: The Oakland Museum; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Literature: Susan Landauer, The School of San Francisco Abstract Expressionism; Thomas Albright, Art in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1945-1980; The Art of California, Selected Works from the Collection of The Oakland Museum; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Painting and Sculpture Collection.