The process of creation can best be detected in an artist's drawings. A painter's sketches show the development of ideas and designs that will later appear on larger oil masterpieces. In this smaller, more personal arena, the essence of an artist is often captured in drawings done without any audience in mind.
Seventy drawings by great Western masters capture the artists' imagination in the exhibition "Durer to Matisse: Master Drawings from The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art" currently on display at the Hood Museum of Art.
The collection of drawings journeys to Hanover from their home gallery in Kansas City, Missouri.
This retrospective covers over four centuries of drawings. Renaissance work by Albrecht Durer and Baroque sketches by Rembrandt van Rijn, to Neo-Classical drawings by Nicolas Poussin and Romantic renditions of Jean Honore Fragonard are on display. Twentieth century artists are well-represented by Henri Matisse, Paul Klee and Barbara Hepworth.
The curators have created a viewer-friendly exhibition in their selection of approachable, engaging drawings by impressive names of Western art. The chronological arrangement of the works allows for pure enjoyment of the artistry on display. The eye can easily trace the evolution of each period style from the early works shown at the front of the gallery to the later drawings at the back.
The joy of this show resides in the sense of discovery a viewer experiences when she stumbles across a drawing by a favorite artist that helps to illuminate an artist's better known work. The viewer gains a more personal view of the displayed artists after experiencing this beautiful selection of drawings.
A variety of mediums and techniques are represented by the seventy drawings. Works are done in traditional graphite, chalk and pen and ink. Some drawings are even executed in more painterly approaches using washes, gouache, and oils.
Subject matter of the displayed pieces encompasses portraiture, still lifes, landscapes, and architectural sketches, as well as historical and religious subjects. The landscape drawings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by Thomas Gainsborough, Francois Boucher, and John Ruskin are particularly notable.
A design of astronomical and geometrical figures, animals and man drawn in brown ink on vellum by an anonymous French master, circa 1250 AD hangs at the beginning of the exhibition. Its symbolism and incorporation of text demonstrate how drawing were originally produced in the context of illuminated manuscripts and stained-glass windows.
A sketch of four heads done in brown ink, circa 1515, by Albrecht Durer shows his keen interest in human physiognomy inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical studies. The head at the far right is an idealized version of the warped, ghoulish profiles to its left.
Durer's interpretation of the human form contrasts a chalk and charcoal sketch of a female figure done by the Impressionist Edgar Degas. These two disparate works have been included in the same exhibition since they share similar techniques and methods. This exhibition finds strength in its wide span of drawings from different periods, styles, and artists.
The exhibition will remain on display through March 2 in the Jaffe-Hall galleries of the Hood Museum. The exhibition is made possible through The Marie-Louise and Samuel R. Rosenthal Fund, The William Chase Grant Fund, and The George O. Southwich 1957 Memorial Fund.
