This exhibition presents works acquired during the fifty year tenure of Ivins and Mayor and is divided into sections based on printing technique. Appropriately it begins with a gallery devoted to etchings as it was a gift of 3,500 prints, mostly 19th century etchings collected by Harris Brisbane Dick, that was the impetus for the foundation of the department. Here we have beautiful examples by American etchers such as Mary Cassatt, Martin Lewis, James Whistler and Edward Hopper...
Edward Hopper
"Night Shadows", 1921
and European artists like Anders Zorn, Edgar Degas and Paul Helleu...
Paul César Helleu
"Madame Helleu Looking at the Watteau
Drawings in The Louvre", c. 1896
There is also a large selection of fine etchings and drypoints by Rembrandt drawn from the Met's nearly complete collection of the master's works.
Rembrandt Van Rijn
"The Three Trees", 1643
The next gallery presents a group of engravings, most notably a wall of works by Albrecht Dürer that is absolutely breathtaking.
Albrecht Dürer
"Adam and Eve", 1504
There is also a section dedicated to woodcuts, or wood engravings as they are also known. Most of the examples presented were book illustrations with the volumes opened up to show the beautiful artwork cached within.
Roberto Valturio
"De Re Militari (On The Military Arts)", 1472
Cesare Vecellio
"De gli habiti antichi et moderni di diversi parti del mondo, libri due...
(Of Ancient and Modern Dress of Diverse Parts of the World in Two Books)", 1590
The third and final gallery is devoted to lithographs and featured both popular art, like posters and postcards, and "fine" art.
Edouard Manet
"The Execution of the Emperor Maximillian", 1868
Ivins and Mayor believed that prints opened windows onto everyday lives therefore advertising art was a prime source of sociological and historical information as well as being graphically arresting.
"Moulin Rouge: La Goulue", 1891
"Night View of World's Fair Grounds from
Observation Platform of Sky Ride"
From the Chicago World's Fair series, 1933
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