Premio Combat Prize

Artist’s Statement:
”Chiaroscuro Eterno--A 21st-Century Study of Timeless Italian Villas”
Since the Renaissance, Italian villas have inspired architects, artists, and authors alike to create illustrative books that have served as guides or memoirs for travelers on the Grand Tour and provided valuable sources of historical documentation. For example, circa 1675, Giacomo di Rossi first published a compendium of prints by Giovanni Battista Falda entitled ”Le Fontane di Roma Nelle Piazze, e Luoghi Publici Della Citta, con il Loro Prospetti.” Nearly a century later, Giovanni Battista Piranesi collaborated with pupils of the French Academy in Rome to create etchings for ”Varie Vedute di Roma Antica e Moderna.” By 1809, French architects Charles Percier and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine produced ”Choix des plus celebres maisons de plaisance de Rome et de ses environs.” At the onset of the 1900s, the subject had expanded beyond the scope of Rome to other Italian provinces as is evident from Edith Wharton’s ”Italian Villas and Their Gardens” and Jock Shepherd and Geoffrey Jellicoe’s ”Gardens of the Italian Renaissance,” among other publications.
Following my own travels, I have begun to carry this tradition forth into the 21st century. The phrase “chiaroscuro eterno” reflects my concept of the black and white medium of drypoint printmaking to illustrate not only my contemporary study of classic Italian villas, but the emergence of light from darkness in the Renaissance over the medieval in art and architecture.
Artist’s Biography:
Stephanie N. Bryan is a landscape historian, printmaker, and photographer from Atlanta, Georgia. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Arts and Art History from Oglethorpe University (2004) and a Masters of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design (2011). Among her honors and awards are the Damaris Horan Prize in Landscape History (2012) enabled by the Royal Oak Foundation and the J. Neel Reid Prize (2013) offered by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. Stephanie has exhibited her artwork in numerous juried exhibitions, including, most recently, the International Print Center New York’s ”Somewheres/Nowheres: New Prints 2014.” In addition, Stephanie’s work has been featured in various publications, such as the April 2015 magnificence-themed issue of ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal.