A fascination with grotesque heads goes back to Leonardo da Vinci. Grotesques offered a counterbalance to the ideals of beauty and harmony prevalent at the time, and their juxtaposition underscored the authority of the latter. There was sometimes a scientific interest in various medical conditions that motivated the artists who made these prints and drawings. ... Printed two or four images on full sheets with deckle edges, these are especially interesting because we see them in a state before they would have been cut apart and mounted in a portfolio. The artist presents grotesque images of both men and women, the old and the young. Small chins, large foreheads, hooked or pug noses, overbites and underbites, working class and wealthy—no one escaped Bossi’s etching needle or his caustic eye.

from Calendar of Events, Winter 2021