Collection of Giacomo Patri Materials
Eva Martinez
Labor Archives and Research Center
2015
San Francisco State University
1630 Holloway Ave
San Francisco 94132-1722
larc@sfsu.edu
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Labor Archives and Research Center
Title: Collection of Giacomo Patri materials
Creator:
Patri, Giacomo
Collection number: larc.ms.0056
Accession number: 1990/051, 2003/024, 2003/049
Physical Description:
0.5 cubic feet
(1 box and 1 oversized box)
Date (inclusive): 1937-2003
Date (bulk): 1940-1946
Abstract: The collection consists of materials by or pertaining to artist and illustrator Giacomo Patri. Includes biographical materials
about the artist as well as labor union pamphlets and handbooks for the Marine Cooks and Stewards Association, the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6, and the Pile Drivers, Bridge, Wharf and Dock Builders Local 34. Also includes a collection
of Patri's work published in the
San Francisco Chronicle from 1942 to 1943, news clippings with political cartoons by Patri dating from 1939, and examples of Patri's work as tattoos.
Location: Collection is available onsite; scrapbook pages in oversize box with multiple accessions.
Language of Material: Languages represented in the collection:
English.
Restrictions
Copyright has not been assigned to the Labor Archives and Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from materials must be submitted in writing to the Director of the Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf
of the Labor Archives and Research Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Availability
Collection is open for research.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Collection of Giacomo Patri Materials, larc.ms.0056, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco
State University.
Acquisition
The Collection of Giacomo Patri Materials consists of materials acquired from the Patri family and other sources, aggregated
into a single collection by Labor Archives and Research Center. Accession numbers 1990/051, 2003/024, 2003/049.
Processing Information
Processed by Eva Martinez in 2015.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Biography
Giacomo Patri was born in Italy in 1898. As an infant he was stricken with polio causing him to use a cane throughout his
life. In 1916, at the age of 18, he arrived in San Francisco and found work as a tailor, elevator operator, and in a mattress
factory. In 1917 he helped found a literary and drama club in the basement of his parents' home. Despite his polio he took
up fencing and in 1923 won third place in the Amateur Fencing League of America. He attended the California School of the
Arts where he was mentored by Spencer Macky, Ralph Stackpole, Horatio Nelson Poole, and Gottardo Piazzoni. He landed an illustrators
job in the
San Francisco Examiner advertising department but soon left to return to school full time.
Graduating during the height of the Great Depression, he was unable to find a job but survived by providing instruction in
drawing, fencing, and Italian, and by painting signs and murals for local stores. Through the National Recovery Act he found
work at the
Call Bulletin doing cartooning and photo retouching. He was a founding member of the local chapter of the Newspaper Guild and served as
president of the Artist Guild. In 1937 he began working for the
San Francisco Chronicle as an illustrator and at the start of WWII was given a page of his own to graphically dramatize the war effort. While at
the Chronicle he perfected his scratchboard technique, which became his chief vehicle of artistic expression. He also began
teaching art to working men and women at the California Labor School where he developed his teaching philosophy that "creativity
is present in everyone, that its expression is a basic human need..."
Beginning in 1937 and throughout the 1940s, Patri created illustrations for many labor union publications, including the Marine
Cooks and Stewards Association, ILWU Warehouse Local 6, and the Pile Drivers, Bridge, Wharf and Dock Builders Local 34. In
1940, Patri published
White Collar, a textless book featuring his linocut illustrations chronicling the plight of workers during the Great Depression. The book
was reprinted in 1987 by his wife, Tamara Rey Patri. In 1948 Patri founded the Patri School of Art Fundamentals based on his
teaching philosophy. The school closed in 1966 upon Patri's retirement.
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of materials by or pertaining to artist and illustrator Giacomo Patri. Includes biographical materials
about the artist as well as labor union pamphlets and handbooks for the Marine Cooks and Stewards Association, the International
Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6, and the Pile Drivers, Bridge, Wharf and Dock Builders Local 34. Also includes a collection
of Patri's work published in the
San Francisco Chronicle from 1942 to 1943, news clippings with political cartoons by Patri dating from 1939, examples of Patri's work in the form
of tattoos, and a Museo Italo gallery program, "Giacomo Patri Retrospective, 1930-1978."
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Labor unions -- Organizing -- California -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Graphic novels.
International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen's Union. Local 6 (San Francisco, Calif.)
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. Pile Drivers, Bridge, Wharf and Dock Builders. Local Union no. 34.
Marine Cooks and Stewards Association of the Pacific Coast
box 1, folder 1
Biography
1978-1982, undated
box 1, folder 4
"How to Organize on the Job" Local 34
undated
box 1, folder 5
ILWU Warehouse Union Local 6
circa 1940s
box 1, folder 6
Marine Cooks and Stewards Association-CIO
1944-1946
box 1, folder 8
San Francisco Chronicle
1941-1943
box 1, folder 9
"San Francisco Harbor"
circa 1940s
box 1, folder 10
"Storm over Bridges"
1941
box 1, folder 11
Trade Unionism
1937, 1944, undated
box 1, folder 12
White Collar (first edition)
1940
box 1, folder 13
White Collar (reprint)
1987
Oversize-box 1
Scrapbook pages of news clippings with illustrations by Giacomo Patri
1939
