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'Small Prints, Big Artists' on view at the Palmer Museum of Art through May 15

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn, "The Three Trees," 1643, etching, drypoint, and engraving. Bequest of Charles J. Rosenbloom, 74.7.164. Image courtesy of Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. Credit: Image courtesy of Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh.All Rights Reserved.

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Palmer Museum of Art will present a new exhibition, "Small Prints, Big Artists: Renaissance and Baroque Masterpieces from Carnegie Museum of Art," from Feb. 2 through May 15.

"Small Prints, Big Artists" presents more than 100 masterworks from the Carnegie Museum of Art’s exceptional collection of more than 8,000 prints. The intimately scaled woodcuts, engravings and etchings trace the development of printmaking as a true art form in Europe during the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

The exhibition opens with a selection of later 15th century woodcuts, by unknown artists, which were invariably employed to illustrate religious texts. These nascent examples provide important models against which one might measure Albrecht Dürer’s complex relief designs from just a generation later, represented by several sheets from his "Apocalypse" and "Life of the Virgin" series. The exhibition also features a number of Dürer’s important engravings, including a spectacular impression of "Adam and Eve," dated 1504, and all three of the "Meisterstiche," or Master Engravings, from 1513–14.

Joining Dürer’s work in the exhibition are examples by many of his contemporaries, such as Martin Schongauer, whom Dürer admired, and the "Kleinmeister," or Little Masters, a group of printmakers who specialized in small-scale imagery. Italian engraving during the early years of the 16th century is highlighted by the efforts of Andrea Mantegna and Marcantonio Raimondi, whose masterpiece, "The Judgement of Paris," created c. 1517–20, marks the pinnacle of his collaboration with Raphael.

The achievements of printmaking in the Low Countries during the 16th century are represented by Philip Galle, the van Doetechum brothers, and Hendrick Goltzius, whose "Apollo" and "Pietà" demonstrate an unparalleled skill with the burin. As the 17th century unfolded, particularly in the Netherlands, engraving gave way to etching, a medium that was particularly cherished by Rembrandt, whose 23 prints in the exhibition include his finest landscape, "The Three Trees," from 1643, and the famed "Christ Healing the Sick," completed c. 1649, perhaps better known as "The Hundred Guilder Print," because within a few years of its creation the etching was exchanging hands for the remarkable price of 100 guilders, or about four months’ wages for the average worker.

This exhibition was organized by the Carnegie Museum of Art.

Patrick McGrady, Charles V. Hallman Curator, will lead a Gallery Talk titled "Small Prints, Big Artists" at 12:10 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 12, in the exhibition gallery.

Also on view at the Palmer Museum of Art this spring are "Consciously Surreal: Photography, the Uncanny, and the Body" from Jan. 12 through May 8 and "From Dada to Dalí: Surrealist Works on Paper," from Jan. 12 through May 8. 

The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State is located on Curtin Road and admission is free. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays and some holidays. From Saturday, March 5, through Sunday, March 13, the museum will be open from noon to 4 p.m. The museum will be closed on Sunday, March 27.

The Palmer Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Last Updated February 2, 2016

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