The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

No. 5–The Dog and the Crocodile

1950

Antonio Frasconi

(American, 1919–2013)
America
woodcut
Image: 40.7 x 29 cm (16 x 11 7/16 in.); Sheet: 53.3 x 36.8 cm (21 x 14 1/2 in.)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1952.214
© Estate of Antonio Frasconi / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Catalogue raisonné: CMA, 1952, 170
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This portfolio was likely the source of his book 12 Fables of Aesop (1954) published by the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Description

Antonio Frasconi portrays a fable by ancient Roman author Phaedrus about the value of caution when enemies pose as friends: a dog avoids being eaten by a crocodile while drinking from the river in which the creature lives. The preparatory drawings show how Frasconi began by considering the animals, their personalities, and their relationship, while accommodating the rectangular composition of the woodblock on which he would carve his design. In the finished print, Frasconi used the texture of the wood grain to suggest the water’s ripples.
  • Prasse, Leona E. “A Woodcut by Antonio Frasconi: Publication of the Print Club of Cleveland.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 39, no. 9 (1952): 226–31. 226, 231 www.jstor.org
  • Fairy Tales and Fables: Illustration and Storytelling in Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 4-September 8, 2024).
    From Block Books to Baskin: Artists as Illustrators. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 13-August 17, 1986).
    Presentation Prints of the Print Club of Cleveland: 40th Anniversary Exhibition of the Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 13-December 2, 1959).
    New Approaches to Print Making. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1955-February 1, 1956).
    Antonio Frasconi. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 13, 1952-January 4, 1953).
  • {{cite web|title=No. 5–The Dog and the Crocodile|url=false|author=Antonio Frasconi|year=1950|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1952.214