Francesca Dimattio is a contemporary American artist, born and raised in New York City. Her art work focuses on themes of love, beauty, death, motherhood and identity. In her professional career, she has contributed her artwork to numerous museums and galleries throughout the United States and to the world through exhibitions in China, Italy, Russia, England, Spain and Brazil. She is also a member of the Neue Galerie in Berlin, Germany and is currently a practicing sculptor/designer. She was a subject of a recent exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London, exhibiting her latest work entitled Birth of a Woman (detail) (2021), which was launched as part of the Art & Social Movement in London.
Francesca Dimattio’s life has been full of twists and turns. She is said to have begun her career as a fashion model at the age of eighteen where she posed for several campaigns for top designers. However, things did not go her way and she was quickly dumped by the industry. Then she landed jobs in publishing magazines. However, these did not last long either. Then it was in the 1960s that she began to make art and sculpture, which would prove to be a stepping stone in her career.
At the age of thirty-one, Francesca Dimattio met and married Mario Lesser who was from a family of musicians and artists. The couple worked together for many years until Dimattio decided to pursue her own artistic interests, leaving Lesser to handle the business end of things. Mario became very disappointed with this turn of events as he had always imagined a life for his wife where they could spend their lives traveling and experiencing different cultures. He felt that his career was unfinished as Francesca Dimattio never seemed to want to leave him. Lesser tried to persuade her several times but she always turned down his attempts to offer support.