Artists

Puerto Rican-born Frank Diaz Escalet (1930–2012) was a self-taught craftsman whose pioneering techniques in leather allowed for an expansive new visual language that advocated for the lives of working-class communities in the United States. Rooted in his lived experience as a Puerto Rican immigrant, Escalet’s work extended well beyond the personal and stood as a steadfast acknowledgment to the humanity of immigrants and laborers. Though vibrant with color and rhythm, Escalet’s work extends beyond bold perspectives - as fundamentally a storyteller. He depicted the bittersweet realities of poverty, the resilience of ordinary people and the quiet poetry of daily life. Escalet described his practice as “Impressionistic folk art.” His works reflected the human condition through personal vignettes drawn from an imaginative archive shaped by his upbringing in Puerto Rico and New York.

Although underrecognized during his lifetime, Escalet’s work traveled to several countries and museums behind the Former Iron Curtain in a World Peace Art Tour in 1990. At the age of 64, his work was featured in the collections of Jacques Cousteau and other famous individuals. He was commissioned by Pablo Casal’s to design his cello case and by the Museum of Modern Art to create covers for their stone-slab seats in the sculpture garden. His works have been on exhibit at the National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.