david mc gee - print salon share

     When 22 KC print society members got together to share a print that meant something to each of us, STORIES opened up, and it got exciting in the Spencer Room of the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. Here is David:

 

Etching is signed G. Vasi and Piranesi, BELOW.

"These are scenes from the Tiber in Rome (ABOVE). Clearly from the 18th century. And they are signed strangely by Giuseppe Vasi and G. B. Piranesi. The Piranesi (signature) has, to my eye, obviously been ADDED. And I have some other evidence why. The connection, if you don't know, Vasi was, some people would consider, the "Master" of Piranesi. I think it has been pretty well proven, he was just "hired." The idea that he taught him to how to print make doesn't make a whole lot of sense, because he was producing more prints than the master when he was working for him. Which might have been the rub at about 1743, when Piranesi left the workshop."  David Mc Gee

 

Mc Gee introduces the controversy between Giuseppe Vasi and Giovanni Piranesi, in part one. Four minute video.

David Mc Gee reveals that Mariano Vasi recut his father's etching plates in strange ways. He changed the carriages and clothes to make them more fashionable for the tourist trade.

Chuckles and revelations continue in part two of this two minute video.

David Mc Gee is a member of the Nelson Atkins Print Society.

Print Salon Share took place on March 22, 2014.  

Photos and video by Karl Marxhausen