Robert Dente

Chianti Hilltop Farm, circa 2006

Solarplate monopint

Image size: 19 3/4" x 15 3/4"

Paper size: 30" x 22 1/4"

Estimated Value: $2000

Printed by the artist

Robert Dente (1946-2017) was a gifted artist and generous teacher whose printmaking virtuosity earned him many awards and honors including two Printmaking Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990 and 1995. His passion for the print is beautifully expressed in the catalog from his last exhibition in 2016 where he wrote:

"Looking back over my life's distinctive moments; at my feelings of longing and wonder at the eternal tapestry of nature's patterns and textures, I see how these moments compelled my search for a visual idiom that could transform my experiences into an expressive release. It led me from painting to printmaking, a process that imbeds layers of colored marks in the archeology of paper fibers as nature deposits minerals throughout the geological layer of a landscape. It is a magical activity; fraught with challenge and humility, but deeply rewarding when it captures the spirit of one's unique relationship to existence."

He was a Magna Cum Laude graduate of the University of Hartford, Hartford Art School. He exhibited nationally and internationally in Italy, Brazil, Mexico, and Australia. The exhibition Italy, Ephemeral and Eternal had its final showing at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in 2006 after traveling throughout Italy. Works from the exhibition are in the permanent collection of the Art in Embassies Program in Rome, Italy. His work is also in the collections of the Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT and the University of Connecticut's William Benton Museum at Storrs, CT.