Mario Avati (born 1921) sent this drawing to poet and scholar Walter Strachan (1903-1994) for his collection of images of owls. Though this image is in conte chalks, Avati was known as a printmaker. He produced work in several printing techniques but most notably mezzotint. He sent five other images of owls to Strachan, all of which were in mezzotint. Avati was a member of La Jeune Gravure, a group of artists who sought to encourage the development of skills in all techniques of printing.
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Strachan was fascinated by the art of the book. His interest was inspired by a visit to an exhibition of artists’ books at the National Gallery in London in May 1945. In due course he wrote many articles on the subject, as well as a major reference work, The Artist and the Book in France (published 1969); he also encouraged successive Keepers of the National Art Library at the V&A “to buy them for England.” To this end he visited France every year, to meet the artists, and acquired proof pages to illustrate his articles and to show to potential purchasers of the books, including the V&A. Over the years he amassed a collection of images of owls; some of these were illustrations from livres d’artistes, and others were designed especially for him as gifts or greetings.
The collection of owls began with a visit to the artist Roger Chastel (1897-1981) in 1952, where he witnessed the printing of Le Bestiaire de Paul Eluard. In a subsequent article (“Genesis and Growth of a Collection”, for Connoisseur, 1972) he explained: “My article on Chastel’s Bestiaire had the happy result of bringing me a special print on Auvergne paper of the owl which I had admired in the book. Contacts in the art-world of Paris are close and friendly, and I was marked down as an owl-man, in consequence of which I have gradually been given dedicated owl prints and originals in every medium from pen and ink to enamel…” It was Avati who first used the term 'cage d’hiboux’ in a dedication on the back of this image, a pun on the French for staircase (cage d’escalier), where Strachan’s collection of owl images were displayed. ('Hiboux' is the French word for 'owls').
