Open Your Eyes…
Raphael & Bolognese
…And Your Heart
What’s happening today
#THE RELEVANCE PROJECT —————————————————
Art that awakens us to the global collapse of human values
Detail from the painting, ‘Good Friday 2019’, from the Raphael & Bolognese studio by artist, Don Bolognese.
Artist’s Statement ___________________________________________________ _______________
ART IS LIFE. _______________
Don Bolognese, Artist, Author & Educator
The Raphael & Bolognese philosophy is simple: create work that makes a difference. From the beginning of their collaboration, they chose editorial commissions over opportunities in advertising. Their primary concern was content - whether for children or adults. At the Cooper Union Art School, they learned to respect the narrative and communicative approach expressed in art dating back to pre-history. This meant immersing themselves in illuminated manuscripts, Renaissance frescos and the various graphic arts such as etchings, woodcuts and engravings. The serious nature of the various mediums they mastered demanded equally profound content. The examples included here are but a small percentage of their enormous output. Their entire body of work reflects their constant search for meaning in both the books they were asked to illustrate and those they wrote.
‘Good Friday 2019’, from the Raphael & Bolognese Studio by artist, Don Bolognese. Learn more at: www.therelevanceproject.com
Today, that philosophy continues with the Elaine Raphael Arts Fund and by Don Bolognese, the surviving partner. Nurturing promising young artists with fully-sponsored Foundations of Drawing workshops is the focus of the Elaine Raphael Arts Fund & Art Club. Don continues that philosophy in his current projects: creating a courseIntroduction to Journalistic Art- for aspiring young artists, university art students and professional artists; writing and illustrating two new books for children that address climate change and homeless refugees (many of them children) and through his traveling exhibits and speaking engagements. Don’s new course, Introduction to Journalist Art is modeled after Photo Journalism adding two disciplines missing particularly during these chaotic times: writing and illustration to express the human values so easily missed amongst the mass of today’s contentsaturated society. Art is meant to reflect life and without these essential expressions, civilized society is at great risk.
Biography ___________________________________________________ _______________ Following Elaine’s passing in 2013, Don began spending time teaching and working near Florence, Italy. He drew inspiration from the Renaissance Masters and their allegorical works depicting important, universal subjects of the day using contemporary imagery.
LIFE IS ART. _______________
RAPHAEL & BOLOGNESE is Don Bolognese and the late Elaine Raphael. They met and both graduated from The Cooper Union Art School in 1954 where they studied under some of the leading artists in New York City. Freelancing as illustrators and calligraphers, they quickly established themselves in the publishing world and the New York art scene.
Reflecting on his time with Elaine, his daughters’ lives, Christian texts and the current political climate, he developed a broader perspective on the treatment of women in society. Over a period of two years, this perspective was translated to canvas with his masterwork, GOOD FRIDAY 2019.
Opening a print studio in Vermont, Elaine Raphael, began a long period of intensive creativity in the world of printmaking. Don’s achievements in woodcutting earned him many commissions. Among them, the coveted “Miracles of Christ” exhibita series of large woodcuts and calligraphy for the Vatican Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. Raphael & Bolognese’s remarkable collaboration continued for almost 60 years.
Raphael & Bolognese in ’SoHo in the 1950’s’. Photo credit: Frank Urrutia.
The reception of his masterwork inspired his most important project to date, The Relevance Project- a movement to revitalize the centuries old tradition of the artist as social observer and critic that positions today’s artists to make a living while making a difference in the world. L e a r n m o r e a t : www.therelevanceproject.com
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The Grapes of Wrath, 5Oth Anniversary Edition, illustrated by Raphael & Bolognese.
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, 50th Anniversary edition: Personally selected by John Steinbeck’s widow, Raphael & Bolognese designed a stark black and white cover executed as a linoleum-cut to convey the destructive force of a prolonged drought and catastrophic economic depression that literally drove people in the Southwest from their forefathers’ lands to search for survival in California. A print resides in the Steinbeck museum in California.
Available For: ___________________________________________________ Teaching
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Foundations of Drawing Workshop held in Florence, Italy in November, 2017
The Elaine Raphael Arts Fund was founded by Don and Elaine’s daughters, Marisa Bolognese and Annie Aft in 2014. Elaine’s Art Fund sponsors foundational drawing workshops to promising young artists ages 10-15. Taught by professional artists, all art materials are supplied free of charge. The Fund also supports similar groups with gifts of art supplies. The Elaine Raphael Arts Fund can be found here: www.livingforacause.org. The course, Introduction to Journalistic Art, is available to high school students, college students and professional artists.
Writing & Speaking
Traveling Exhibits
Don Bolognese is available for speaking engagements and writing projects concerning the future of art, art history, foundational drawing skills and his passion: an aspect of Narrative art he calls “Journalistic Art”. Journalistic Art is a new term for an old tradition of reportage practiced by many artists over the centuries. The discipline of Journalistic Art includes writing, photography and illustration. Bolognese believes this discipline positions the artist as personal witness and is an answer to the growing tendency within the digital sector towards the manipulation and fraudulent use of data obtained and delivered by technology.
History shows that art is the medium that best captures the emotional qualities that connect the viewer to the human values critical to civilized society. For workshop, the Introduction to Journalistic Art course, writing, speaking and traveling exhibit inquiries, email: don.bolognese@gmail.com
Raphael & Bolognese Pop-Up Gallery, May-October, 2019, Manchester, Vermont shown here with gallery visitors and the artist.
The vast body of work created by Raphael & Bolognese Studio for close to 60 years, makes for compelling and unique exhibits. From literary arts to the recent work of Bolognese, The Relevance Project, art that matters and is relevant to current social events today is the focus of his traveling exhibits. Learn more at: www.therelevanceproject.com.
Selected Works ___________________________________________________
‘Portals’, 2011 by artist, Don Bolognese.
Portals: from the Raphael & Bolognese studio, artist, Don Bolognese: Inspired by Renaissance artist, Peter Breughel’s three paintings illustrating the biblical story of the “Tower of Babble”: a parable of how human hubris so angered God that He created many languages to divide humanity into fractious tribes that would forever need His grace to bring them together. “Portals” asks us to consider where we are going: is “Civilization” in its Death throes or is it on the cusp of Rebirth?
___________________________________________________ A New Day /Un Nuevo Dia: Raphael & Bolognese’s first attempt to revitalize the traditional approach to the telling of biblical stories i.e., French Medieval stained glass windows and manuscripts show figures that are dressed and look like the peasants and nobility of the Middle ages, in surroundings that included castles, armored knights and other features of the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. That tradition lasted well into the 17th and 18th centuries insuring that the viewer of those times could relate personally to biblical stories. Today’s “historically” correct presentation, separated in time from the contemporary viewer, runs the risk of being “quaint” and out of touch with “modern” life. When first published in the late 60’s “A New Day” was called by one critic a “minor masterpiece” and was featured on Sunday morning network TV. Today it has a loyal following and has been made into operas and musicals featuring various ethnic and indigenous theatrical ensembles.
A New Day, 2004, 1969 written and illustrated by Don Bolognese.
___________________________________________________ Short Story Collection by Katherine Ann Porter: A linoleum-cut from a story that explores the ongoing issue of relations between whites and blacks in the South. The author’s profound understanding of the human cost of endemic racism required the stark and somber qualities inherent to block printing.
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Short Story Collection, illustrated by Raphael & Bolognese.
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Commission from the Vatican for the New York World’s Fair, ’Miracles of Christ’ by artist, Don Bolognese.
In 1963 Don was commissioned to create an exhibit in the waiting area for viewers of the Michelangelo sculpture “Pieta” at the Vatican pavilion at the New York World’s Fair in Queens. He created nine very large double panels celebrating the Nine Miracles of Christ. Each miracle was depicted in a woodcut accompanied by a text written in the style of Renaissance calligraphy which in Don’s version dramatically reflects the black and white texture of the woodcut. A set of the nine woodcut prints is in the Vatican library.
___________________________________________________ NEED The Warhorse by Don Bolognese: When Don had delivered final art for the book he had written, his editor asked him IMAGES the to stay a few minutes more. Apparently, the executive art director of Simon & Schuster had expressed a desire to meet what she described as a “Renaissance man� - the author who had researched and written a book based on real Renaissance figures, then illustrated the text with sepia drawings, used Italian style calligraphy for chapter headings and finally, painted a cover in the style of the 15th century. It was a direct acknowledgement of the Raphael & Bolognese approach to their artistic heritage and thematically a reminder of the ongoing struggle between opposing forces: Art and Love versus War and Hate.
The Warhorse, written and illustrated by Don Bolognese.
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Sam Baker Goes West, written and illustrated by Raphael & Bolognese.
Sam Baker Goes West, by Elaine Raphael and Don Bolognese: Every successful partnership is characterized by its attaining that unlikely goal that proves on very rare occasions that 2 + 2 can indeed = 5. Elaine Raphael, besides her great skills as an artist, had an equally intuitive talent for research. For her, research was spending long hours among the book-laden shelves of the The Strand Bookstore in lower Manhattan. Among her many interests was her love of Russian literature. On one of her visits, The Strand’s book shelves yielded a book of Tolstoy’s short stories. A particular story spoke to her and she began adapting it to the American West. The result was Sam Baker, Gone West, the story of a greedy homesteader who wants more land to farm and gets far more than he bargained for. It so impressed a teacher and his students at the prestigious Dalton School in New York that he wrote a musical of the book that his students performed. What makes the book most notable is the ending – not one typically found in children’s books.
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All Upon A Stone, illustrated by Don Bolognese.
All Upon A Stone and All Upon A Sidewalk, by Jean Graighead George: A few years after the publication of Once Upon A Mountain, Don was approached by Ms George’s publisher. The project was challenging because the author wanted to emphasize the unique environment and habits of a particular beetle. Don’s anti-war book was the answer: All upon a Stone was selected by the New York Herald Tribune as its “Picture Book of the Year” for 1973.
Current Works in Progress ___________________________________________________ NEED IMAGE
Illustration by Don Bolognese.
Currently in production: Two picture books for children; one concerning the environment and the destruction of America’s natural beauty in the interest of commerce. The other is an allegory illuminating the conflicting attitudes among Americans towards refugees seeking a haven in America.
Resume ___________________________________________________
Raphael & Bolognese
EDUCATION Raphael: 1954 Graduate of The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, New York. Raphael: 1975 Post Graduate of The Pratt Graphic Center, Printmaking, New York, New York. Bolognese: 1954 Graduate of The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, New York. AWARDS 1972 Bologna Children’s Book Fair Award, Bologna, Italy. 1973 Picture Book of the Year, Book Review, The Herald Tribune, New York, New York. Society of Illustrators, New York, New York. Art Director’s Annual, New York, New York. Illustrator’s Annual, New York, New York. Franklin Library of Limited Editions, New York, New York. TEACHING EXPERIENCE Bolognese: 1968-1972 The Cooper Union School of Art, Designed and taught a comprehensive Book Arts program,New York, New York. Bolognese: 1960-1967 The Pratt Institute, Designed and taught a comprehensive Book Arts program,New York, New York. Bolognese: 1970-1973 New York University, Taught Illustration, New York, New York. Raphael:
1982-1983 Manhattanville College, Taught Computer Graphics, Harrison, New York.
Raphael:
1982-1983 The Metropolitan Museum of Art at The Cloisters, Taught Calligraphy
and Bookmaking to children as part of the museum’s outreach program, New York, New York.
Miracles of Christ, commissioned by The Vatican for the New York World’s Fair in 1963 illustrated by Raphael & Bolognese.
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Raphael & Bolognese WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BOOKS 1967 Once Upon A Mountain, J.B. Lippincott Company, New York, New York. 2004 The Warhorse, Simon & Schuster, New York, New York. 1969, 2004 A New Day, Delacourt Press, New York, New York. ILLUSTRATED BOOKS Raphael & Bolognese: 1956-2002 Illustrated over 250 books for Simon & Schuster, Viking Press, Harper/ Collins, Scholastic, McMillan, Farrar and Strauss, J.B.Lippincott, Delacourt Press, Grosset & Dunlap and more. COMMISSIONS


NEEDS COMPLETING.
Detail from the painting, ‘City of Dreams Collection’, from the Raphael & Bolognese Studio by artist, Don Bolognese.
Contact ___________________________________________________ For teaching, writing & exhibit inquiries: Don Bolognese 53 Irving Place New York, New York 10003 (310) 869. 1645 don.bolognese@gmail.com
For book proposals: Literary Agent, Liz Nealon: liz@greatdogliterary.com
‘City Lights’, by Don Bolognese (shown), inspired by the Gramercy neighborhood, home of the Raphael & Bolognese Studio since 1973.
OPEN YOUR EYES…
Detail from the painting, ‘Good Friday 2019’, from the Raphael & Bolognese Studio by artist, Don Bolognese.
…AND YOUR HEART