by Mary Carroll
In 1999 Bill Carroll and I started researching the Piccirilli Brothers. Bill had grown up in the South Bronx near the studio but never knew about it back then. It became his magnificent obsession and I was along for the ride. As we found out more and more, we put together a slide presentation and started showing it at various locations around New York, from Italian social clubs to the New York Historical Society, to Chesterwood. Bill really wanted to give something back to the South Bronx, so we had an exhibit going at the Mott Haven Library and even got 142nd St between Brook and Willis named Piccirilli Place.
He contacted art dealers and historians, curators and Italian-American academics. We found others who were on the trail of these great artisans; the story caught on, and eventually we tried to get a documentary done. Alas, that never happened, but here we are today with this glorious work by Eduardo Montes-Bradley.
We always knew it was a story that needed to be told, and Eduardo has done it so masterfully.
Mary and Bill Carrolls and The Piccirilli
I watched the film last night, and it is magnificent. He has found out so much more to this tale. It has become a bigger story than I ever knew it would be. They have gained their rightful place as the major sculptors-stonecarvers of the late 19th and 20th century. Each moment of the film shows the mastery of their craft across the country from New York to Chicago to San Diego and New Orleans.
We always knew it was a story that needed to be told, and Eduardo has done it so masterfully.
I hope you will see it and enjoy it as much as I have. And Bill, who died in 2019, would be the first to cheer for this great film.
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