Thursday, July 31, 2025

Artist of the Day, July 31, 2025 : Ferenc Pinter, an Italian painter and illustrator (#2345)

Ferenc Pinter (1931 – 2008) was an Italian painter and illustrator. He was born at Alassio, Liguria, to Hungarian father and Italian mother. His name was spelled Pintér Ferenc in Hungarian: he signed most of his works with the Hungarian name order; however in Italy he was known as Ferenc Pintér with the accent over the second e often dropped to avoid confusion. In 1940 his family moved to Budapest where his father received health treatments. Orphaned, Pinter tried to enter the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, but he was not admitted for his divergence with the communist ideas of the time. After the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he fled to Italy. There, in Milan, he was commissioned for a series of advertisement illustrations and posters until, in 1960, he entered the Mondadori publisher with which he collaborated for 32 years.

Pinter realized numerous covers for Mondadori books and magazines, such as Segretissimo (a spy stories series, 14 covers), as well as Maigret and Agatha Christie translations and for Oscar Mondadori (the most sold Italian pocket series). His favoured technique was tempera.

In 1989 he painted the 22 Tarot Triumphs published by Lo Scarabeo of Turin, with a foreword by art historian Federico Zeri, followed by 56 Minor Arcana (2000–2002) from the same publisher. 

© 2025. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Ferenc Pinter or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only

Ferenc Pinter
Michele Strogoff, 1960
Copertina per Omnibus Mondadori, 1960
Manifesto Offset [Telato], 1962

Maigret e l'uomo solo, 1970's
L'origine del mondo, 1970's
La fuga, 1970's
Maigret ha un dubbio, 1973
Book cover, 1974
Maigret e il ladro, 1981
Book cover, 1982
Book cover, 1983
1989 poster
Istanbul, 1990s
Venezia,1990s
Ostrogoti, 1991
Poirot- la Dama velata e altre storie, 1995 cover
Illustration of the Pordenone branch, 1998
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, 2001
Nuovo circo, 2001
William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, 2001
Moby Dick, 2002
Moby Dick, 2002
2003 cover
Amleto, 2004 cover
Copertina de "Il compagno"
Kim di Rudyard Kipling
Studies feat miss Edelgard (and Dimitri)
Tarot 
Tarot card
Tarot card
Tarot card
Tarot card

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Artist of the Day, July 30, 2025 : Leonid Sokov, a Russian artist and sculptor (#2344)

Leonid Sokov (1941 – 2018) was a Russian nonconformist artist and sculptor. Since 1980, Sokov primarily lived and worked in New York City. 

Sokov was born in Mikhalevo in the Tver region, Russia in 1941 and graduated from the Stroganov Institute now called the Moscow School of Art and Industry, in 1969. He emigrated to the United States in 1980. His compositions are in the Pop style, adapted to Socialist Realism through the use of ideology as an object of consumption. He is closely related to the Sots art movement and he has worked with others in that genre including Dmitry Prigov, Alexander Kosolapov, and Rostislav Lebedev.

In 2001 he represented Russia at the Venice Biennale. He participated in the 2004 Gwangju Biennale in Gwangju, South Korea.

In 2012, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMoMA) honored the artist's 70th birthday with a major retrospective and publication on the artist's career and work.

In 2013, Zimmerli Art Museum organized a major retrospective Leonid Sokov: Ironic Objects. The exhibition was reviewed in ArtNews and the New York Times.[

In 2016, The State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow held a major retrospective museum show dedicated to the artist's life and work. 

© 2025. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Leonid Sokov or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only

Leonid Sokov
Looking with a lantern by the light of the sun,  2010
Wildcat, 2007
Kremlin's Idol, 2007
Gold Trap, 2007
Bear, 2007
Flying Cage, 2006
Two-headed J. Stalin, 2005
Marinetti's TUMB TUMB, 2005
Three Russian Sun, 2005
IKAR, 2004
Spermatozoids, 2000
Malevich's funeral, 2000
Three Hanging Bells, 1999
Stalin and Bear, 1996
Russia Today, 1995
Locked Hammer and Sickle, 1994
Lenin and Calder, 1994
Stalin and Malevich, 1992
Russian Devil, 1990
Lips and Moustaches Icon, 1990
Lenin e Giacometti Meeting two, 1990
Dollar and Hammer, 1989
Stalin and Marilyn Monroe at the Table, 1989
God the Father, Son and Holy Gost, 1989
Stalin and Marilyn, 1986
Atom Cocktail, 1986
Bear on a Tank, 1985
Red Idol, 1985
Determining one's Nationality, 1977
Voting, 1975
Heart with a Hand Paint, 1975
Threatening Finger, 1974
Heart with Transition, 1974
Shirt, 1973-74