The Chiaroscuro Woodcut
March 20 – August 1, 2010
The Italian word chiaroscuro means “light and dark”, and refers to a technique in painting in which tone and depth are created by a dramatic use of contrast. Applied to woodcut, the term describes a color print created with different colored blocks, ranging from pale ink to black ink. Such woodcuts were developed in the early sixteenth-century by masters like Ugo da Carpi principally as a means of reproducing drawings, and flourished with virtuoso artists like Parmigianino and Hendrick Goltzius. In the eighteenth century, the technique returned to the reproduction of Old Master drawings and paintings, while leading the way to the development of illustrated wallpaper. This exhibition chronicles the history and reveals the beauty of the technique.
John Baptist Jackson
Heroic Landscape with Dedication and Classical Ruins, 1744, after Marco Ricci
Chiaroscuro woodcut, under LeBlanc 21–25, only state
Jack S. Blanton Curatorial Endowment Fund, 2008
Picasso: A Graphic Inquiry
March 20 – August 1, 2010
Pablo Picasso's involvement with printmaking was a passionate and lifelong creative endeavor. His prolific output of prints underscored his development as an artist and revealed his seemingly limitless capacity for reinvention. This exhibition presents The Blanton's holdings of Picasso's prints, and highlights the artist's uncanny ability to explore and experiment with the medium's variety of techniques. Major works include the lithographic Head of a Woman (1925), four works from the celebrated Suite Vollard (1930–1937) including the Blind Minotaur Guided by a Young Girl in the Night, and Bust in Profile (1957), one of many images he created of his young wife Jacqueline Roque.
Pablo Picasso
Seated Girl, frontispiece to Recordant el Doctor Reventós, 1951
Engraving and drypoint, Bloch 1837, only state
The Leo Steinberg Collection, 2002
Piranesi Antiquarian
March 20 – August 1, 2010
Piranesi is best known as an etcher, in particular as a vedutista specializing in views of cityscapes and landscapes. An extraordinary polymath, he was trained as a stonemason, architect and hydraulics engineer, then prominent in stage design, interior design, restoration of antiques, and argument in favor of Roman antiquity. This exhibition presents Piranesi the antiquarian, archaeologist, and draftsman through his Antichità Romane, a collection of etchings that both record and interpret the monuments of ancient Rome.
Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Triumphal Bridge, plate XIII from Le Antichità Romane [Roman Antiquities], 1756
Etching, Focillon 348, Wilton-Ely 481
Gift of Alvin Romansky
Gardens of the French Monarchy
March 20 – August 1, 2010
Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century France was ruled by the Bourbon dynasty which also established a highly controlled social order. Under their absolute authority, art and architecture flourished, and innumerable gardens were created for the royal family and aristocrats in its circle. The social and artistic significance of these projects is also reflected in the proliferation of prints that record their appearance and can still evoke their character. This exhibition presents choice examples by leading printmakers of the time, including Jacques Callot, Israël Silvestre, and Adam Perelle.
François-Antoine Aveline II
Garden Façade of Clagny
Etching
The Leo Steinberg Collection
Symbol and Science: Water Imagery, 1500-1700
March 20 – August 1, 2010
Water has always captured human imagination and inspired artists to visualize it in a multitude of ways. Whether drawn to its strange and supernatural qualities or adopting a more scientific approach, artists have been captivated by its inexorable power and shifting beauty. This exhibition explores the representation of water’s many guises and functions in early modern prints, from mythology and sacred tradition, to broader metaphor and allegory. Among the major examples are works by Albrecht Dürer, Marcantonio Raimondi, Claude Lorrain, and Stefano Della Bella.
Stefano Della Bella
Two Tritons Restraining Sea Creatures, plate 13 from Ornamenti di fregi e fogliami [Ornament with friezes and foliage], 17th century
Etching, DeVesme-Massar 999, fourth state of four
The Leo Steinberg Collection
