Peppino Mangravite, Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum J0003339
“The Artist’s Family”
"This handsome canvas introduces Peppino Mangravite’s own interesting family. With Mrs. Mangravite are Denise and Nina, 9 and 13 years old respectively, when this picture was painted in 1941. The Setting is the artist’s summer farm in the Adirondacks." American Artist 7, no. 4 (April 1943): 29
The son of an Italian naval officer Peppino Mangravite was born in Lipari, Italy, a small island off the northern coast of Sicily. He started studying art early and received training from several teachers at Scoule Techiniche Belle Arti in Carrara, Italy. Upon his father’s retirement in 1912 the family moved to New York where Mangravite attended Cooper Union Art School, Broadmoor Art Academy and the Art Students League with Robert Henri.
In the early 1920s Mangravite worked decorating of church interiors and at summer camps in the Adirondacks. He enjoyed the experience and found a position in 1926 at the Potomac School in Washington D.C. and then at the Ethical Cultural School in New York in 1928. This began Mangravite's career as a teacher working at such institutions as;
Mangravite was fortunate to be able to earn a living as a teacher which enabled him to pursue his own painterly activities. Between 1929 and 1932 Mangravite developed his own fluid style focusing on lyrical themes. He worked as a WPA artist during this time he was awarded several mural commissions including the Post Offices in Hempstead, Long Island, 1936, Atlantic City, 1939, and Jackson Heights, Queens, 1940. Mangravite also executed a mural for the Governor’s Mansion in the Virgin Islands in 1942. From 1943 - 44 Mangravite served as chairman for the College Art Association's Committee for the Study of the Practice of Art Courses.
In 1955 Columbia University and the State Department allowed Mangravite to traveled in Europe interviewing some of the outstanding artists. During this time he spoke with artists such as Braque, Chagall and de Chirico. After retirement from teaching in 1964 Mangravite devoted more time to his painting and continued until his death in 1978 in Cornwall, Connecticut.
In 1977, shortly before his death, Mangravite gave the Archives of American art his letters and photographs documenting not only his career but the interviews he had conducted with artists in Europe.