Emiliano Sorini was born in Urbino Italy on April 23,1931. He immigrated to the United States in 1959 and became an American citizen in 1962. He graduated from the Institute of Graphic Arts and was a scholarship winner for the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. Sorini received a grant from the Ford Foundation for printmaking at the Tamarind Workshop under June Wayne, and worked in Rome for “IL Torcoliere” with Italian artists and “Castelli” Editions.

Sorini went on to work with Irwin Hollander at Hollander Graphic Workshop in New York where he worked with printmakers Robert Motherwell, Louis Nevelson, Jacques Lipschitz and others before founding the Sorini Studio in New York where he continued to print with printmakers, including printing Jackson Pollack’s plates for MOMA and Lee Krasner to Keith Haring.

“Sorini,” as he was known by the artists with whom he collaborated, always displayed a subtle sense of humor while guiding both the tutored and untutored artist through the process of printing an edition. Although never forgetting that he was the printmaker, he sometimes would suggest a specific tone, shading or degree of sharpness in the line for the artist to consider.

Soriano was dedicated to teaching the process of printmaking and fostering an appreciation of the technical and aesthetic beauty of the print. He taught at Yale University, Queens College, the Pratt Graphic Arts Center in New York and the Seong Moy School in Provincetown. He also authored William Gropper: Catalogue Raisonne of the Etchings. 

Emiliano Sorini died in Maywood, Bergen, New Jersey on October 1, 1999.