Aftermath

Edmond Casarella

Casarella's notation in the lower right sheet edge, "Glass surface print", tells us that the print was pulled from a glass matrix. This work predates the term "vitreography" to describe the technique, suggesting that Casarella was exploring uncharted territory in the creation of this print. Not one to shy away from a challenge, Casarella successfully navigated the slick and unforgiving matrix, one that could easily snap if the pressure of the etching press wasn't balanced. It appears that he first pulled a paper relief background in white ink, then layered brushstrokes of black, ochre, and cream onto the matrix before gently pulling the image.

It would take two more decades for Connor Everts to coin the word "vitreography", and it was glass artist Harvey Littleton who would be given much of the credit for perfecting the method and teaching it in an academic setting.

Edmond Casarella, printmaker, painter, sculptor, and teacher, was born in Newark, New Jersey on September 3, 1920. Upon his graduation from Cooper Union in 1942, he was hired by Anthony Velonis to print serigraphs at Creative Printmakers under the National Youth Administration which was part of the New Deal. The following year he created the poster for the 1943 exhibition, Artists for Victory. Casarella joined the U.S. Army in 1944 and, after his discharge, he enrolled at the Brooklyn Museum School where he studied printmaking with Gabor Peterdi.

Casarella made his first paper relief print about 1948 and continued to experiment with the medium throughout his career. His work was shown in 1949 at the Laurel Gallery in New York and, in 1952, he was being represented by Margaret Lowengrund's Contemporaries Gallery. In 1953, Casarella's work was included in the Young American Printmakers exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and, in 1962, he was included in the widely traveled exhibition, American Prints Today. Casarella received a Fulbright Fellowship in 1951, a Tiffany Award in 1955, and a Guggenheim Grant in 1960. These allowed him to travel throughout Italy and Greece.

Casarella taught at the Brooklyn Museum from 1955 to 1960 and at Cooper Union and Finch College from 1969 to 1975. During the 1960s he taught courses at the Arts Students' League and Hunter College in Manhattan and had temporary teaching positions at the Pratt Institute, Yale University, Rutgers University, and Columbia University.

Edmond Casarella died in Englewood, New Jersey on 13 February 1996.