38 paintings, including 18 Original Color Illustrations from "The Opera According to Bartalini" and "Opera Psychotherapy" and other unpublished works

San Francisco. 1981, 1st Edition. No Binding. 38 Original Gualtiero Bartalini Grand Opera-themed color illustrations, at least 18 of them were published in his books. Almost certainly this is the most comprehensive collection of this artist s work in existence Gualtiero Bartalini (1898-1994) Moved to San Francisco from Italy in the 1940s, he lived at 1969 California Street, he has been described as a colorful character that operated his house as an eccentrically decorated rooming house for artists and performers Bartalini s first book was the 1981 Opera Psychotherapy: A Delightfully Witty Treatment of Eighteen of the World s most Popular Operas One of the paintings here is the original for the cover of that book. Bartalini wrote the text (comic poems) and illustrated it. In 1994, the year of his death, another book with both his illustrations and his verse was published. The Opera According to Bartalini: A Book of Doggerel Librretti and Comical Illustration. 16 of the original illustrations for this book are included in this collection. There was also a set of postcards published by Pomegranate about that time in connection with the book, that some of these images were featured on. The paintings are mainly signed with the artist s surname in cursive. Almost every piece has a different condition state: some are mounted on boards, some on plain watercolor paper, some with older mats, some with pinholes in the corners, a few have dented corners, some with adhesive residue on the reverse or on the margins. Many of the works have preliminary sketch drawings for other works on the reverse, it is not possible to show them or even all the paintings due to photo quantity limits, but if you have questions or need for specific details in photos, please feel free to ask for them. I can make a detailed photo of any of them. This site only allows for 5 photos, and each deserves its own photograph. Please request additional photos, as needed. I will, of course, include a copy of each of the two books, so you can read the humorous poetry by the author that goes with the paintings. The paintings are rendered in watercolor, gouache, ink, pencil, and acrylic, often in combination, some of the pieces are artist-created splicings of two or more papers, as is common on works meant for reproduction, they still look nice. The media is drawn or painted variously on art paper, board, canvas-covered board, etc. The paintings look much better in person than in the books, the printing quality of the book Opera Psychotherapy especially was below average.. Very Good. Signed by Author(s).

BARTALINI, GUALTIERO - 38 paintings, including 18 Original Color Illustrations from "The Opera According to Bartalini" and "Opera Psychotherapy" and other unpublished works