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

Sat, Sep 23 - Sun, Dec 17  2017

Johnson Museum of Art

From September 23 – December 17, the exhibition “Lines of Inquiry: Learning from Rembrandt’s Etchings‘ will be on view at 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.

“Lines of Inquiry” in Oberlin

“Lines of Inquiry: Learning from Rembrandt’s Etchings” has been organized in collaboration with the Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, where it will be on view February 6–May 13, 2018.

Symposium: “Learning and teaching with Rembrandt: Cross-disciplinary approaches to the master etcher”

On Saturday, October 28, the Johnson Museum will host a daylong symposium, “Learning and Teaching with Rembrandt: Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to the Master Etcher,” to examine collaborative research in academic collections, and how it extends the reach of existing knowledge about Rembrandt’s practice. A panel discussion will explore the teaching of Rembrandt prints from a variety of perspectives in different settings, including the university, the museum, and the conservation studio. 

This symposium will be live-streamed at live.alumni.cornell.edu

Examine how both pedagogical approaches and increased watermarks data for Rembrandt’s prints can be used along with traditional connoisseurship to answer questions about Rembrandt as a printmaker—and raise new ones. Speakers will discuss cross-disciplinary projects and collaborative research in academic collections, and how they extend the reach of existing knowledge about Rembrandt’s practice. 

Presenters are scheduled to Nadine Orenstein, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Margaret Holben Ellis, New York University; Elizabeth Nogrady, Vassar College; Stephanie Dickey, Queen’s University; Andaleeb Badiee Banta, Oberlin College; and Andrew Weislogel and C. Richard Johnson, Jr., Cornell University. More information about the schedule click here. 

Keynote presenters: 

• Erik Hinterding, Curator of Prints, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
• Susan Donahue Kuretsky, Professor of Art on the Sarah Gibson Blanding Chair, Vassar College

Registration is FREE! Contact Elizabeth Saggese at eas8@cornell.edu or 607 254-4642 to reserve a space by Monday, October 23.