Allen Memorial Art Museum Presents: “Lines of Inquiry: Learning from Rembrandt’s Etchings”

Tue, Feb 6 - Sun, May 13  2018

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College - Chicago Consulate Region

From February 6 through May 13, the exhibition “Lines of Inquiry: Learning from Rembrandt’s Etchings” will be on view at Allen Memorial Art Museum in Oberlin, OH. The exhibition has been organized in collaboration with the Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca, NY. 

About the exhibition

Rembrandt’s etchings, long treasured for their innovation and perceptive portrayal of the human psyche, continue to inspire a wide range of audiences and admirers, including scientists and engineers. Encouraging close looking at these masterworks in the context of collection building and new scientific approaches, this multifaceted exhibition will highlight Rembrandt’s scope and subtlety as an etcher.

More than sixty impressions from across Rembrandt’s oeuvre will show the artist’s process, including how he made changes to his plates, and detail his use of a variety of printing supports. Works from the collections of Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, Syracuse, and Yale Universities, Oberlin and Vassar Colleges, the University of Kansas, the Morgan Library & Museum, and private collections will feature subject matter ranging from portraits and self-portraits to genre scenes, religious narratives, landscapes, study plates, and academic nude studies.

The accompanying catalogue incorporates new research and initiatives that examine the status of the printmaker, including an overview of Rembrandt print collecting by American academic collections, an account of Oberlin’s secret guardianship of the Morgan’s Rembrandt prints during World War II, and an introduction to Cornell’s Watermark Identification in Rembrandt’s Etchings (WIRE) project, a collaboration among museums, faculty, and students dedicated to digitally facilitating access to Rembrandt watermark scholarship.

Public Program

– Curator Tours

Sunday, February 25, at 3 p.m. & Friday, April 13, at noon 

Andaleeb Badiee Banta, exhibition curator of Lines of Inquiry: Learning from Rembrandt’s Etchings, gives free, 45-minute tours on these two dates.

– AMAM in the AM

Friday, March 16, at 10:15 a.m.

Exhibition tour with Andaleeb Badiee Banta. This is part of an ongoing series of informal talks offered on the third Friday of the month, through May.

– First Thursday Lecture

Thursday, April 5, at 5:30 p.m. 

“Rembrandt: The Last Renaissance Artist” is the title of a guest lecture by Catherine Scallen, Andrew W. Mellon Associate Professor in the Humanities and Associate Professor of Art History at Case Western Reserve University. Rembrandt was a printmaker and painter of the 17th century, but his choice of subjects and thematic presentation allied him more with earlier Renaissance art. Scallen examines this retrospective side of Rembrandt’s art and offers possible motivations—centering on his personal ambition as an artist. The program will be followed by a reception; galleries remain open until 7:30 p.m.