Donald Farnsworth (b. 1952 Palo Alto, CA; lives and works in Oakland, CA), Giancarlo, Patient (Roommate) (detail), 2023, graphite, chalk, and mixed media on handmade paper. Courtesy of Magnolia Editions, Oakland, CA
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Donald Farnsworth (b. 1952 Palo Alto, CA; lives and works in Oakland, CA), Atim, Physician, Infectious Disease Specialist, 2023, chalk and mixed media on handmade paper. Courtesy of the Artist
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While traveling in Italy in 2022, artist Donald Farnsworth (b. 1952 Palo Alto, CA; lives and works in Oakland, CA) was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of COVID-19. He was admitted to the Maggiore Hospital in Parma, Italy, where he was confined for five weeks. The exquisite portraits in this exhibition pay homage to the courageous doctors and healthcare professionals who risked their lives to save his during the height of the pandemic. While confined to the hospital, he took photographs of his caretakers, treatments, and fellow patients that he later used to make portraits upon his return to good health and the United States. Though contemporary, Farnsworth’s mixed media drawings are made using traditional techniques and recall drawings made during the Italian Renaissance.
Especially pertinent to the exhibition of the Parma portraits at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Farnsworth conducted painstaking research into the materials and techniques of papermaking during the Renaissance. The paper he made could have been used by Leonardo da Vinci. The use of Renaissance-style handmade paper to create the Parma portraits instills a timeless quality and mirrors the enduring values inherent to the medical profession.
Donald Farnsworth: The Parma Portraits will be accompanied by a full-color illustrated catalog.
Kathleen Goncharov, Senior Curator
