Lot 381: Andrew Bucci (American/Mississippi, b. 1922),

Andrew Bucci (American/Mississippi, b. 1922), "Reclining Nude", mixed media on paper, pencil-signed lower left, with a "Nunnery's Gallery, Jackson, MS" label en verso, sight 34 3/4 in. x 44 1/4 in., framed.

Note: Like numerous painters who came before him, Andrew Bucci is something of a polymath. As a youth, he studied architectural engineering at Louisiana State University while simultaneously taking art classes. Fellow Mississippian Marie Atkinson Hull was an early artistic influence on Bucci, and at seventeen, he began studying with her weekly. She eventually became his mentor and champion. Bucci's first show was at the Mississippi Art Colony at Allison's Wells in Way, Mississippi in 1947. Taking advantage of his tour of duty in Paris during WWII, he studied at the prestigious Académie Julian. He continued his studies stateside at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Parson's School of Design before settling in Washington DC and working for the National Meteorological Center in Maryland. Among arious other achievements, Bucci had the distinction of designing a United States Postal Service Stamp and was honored with the 2009 Mississippi Arts Commission Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. Currently in his eighties, Bucci continues to paint. His work can be found in The Corcoran Museum of Art, New Orleans Museum of Art, the Mississippi Museum of Art, and other public and private collections. In 2007 he donated his work and ephemera to the Smithsonian Institution. Black, Patti Carter. Art in Mississippi 1720-1980. Hong Kong: C & C Offset Printing Company, 1998, p. 244