Tempt Me attributed to Guido Georgetti (Italy/US, 1911-2005), original washed lithograph, circa 1970s, framed - 12 3/4" x 17 1/4"
 
Painter and printmaker Guido “Wedo” Georgetti was born in Marche, Italy in 1911, and his family came to the United States when he was a year old. After a brief period in St Paul, Minnesota, the family settled in Tacoma, Washington, where Wedo and his siblings were raised and he began studying art. After moving to California in 1934, he shipped out of San Francisco as a merchant seaman for many years. Visiting the ports of the world, Georgetti obtained much of his subject matter from his travels.  Although in the 1940s he had become somewhat known for his watercolor art and prints, Georgetti was blacklisted by the government during the McCarthy era due to his occasional prints with political overtones. He was not convicted, but it shed a negative light on his art as a whole, which was not unsual for many artists of the time, making it harder for him to sell his works. Despite this, Georgetti kept on painting and would give his unsold works to his friends and family. He made frequent visits to France , where he was influenced by Post-Impressionist and particularly, by the Nabis, an early modern art movement. An innovative theorist, Georgetti was the originator of California Fauvism. He was a member of the California Society of Etchers from whom he won a prize in the 1940s, and his work is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art.