Rembrandt Exhibition at the Wallach Art Gallery

Wed, Sep 9 - Sat, Dec 12  2015

Wallach Art Gallery - New York Consulate Region

From September 9 through December 12, 2015, the Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University showcases the exhibition “Rembrandt’s Changing Impressions.” The exhibition, curated by Robert L. Fucci, a Ph.D. candidate in Columbia’s Department of Art History and Archaeology and a David E. Finley Fellow at the National Gallery’s Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, features 52 works from 14 collections. The works were all produced during Rembrandt’s lifetime and highlight the changes the artist made to his prints throughout his career. The exhibition includes only works from the 17th-century that were drawn from significant U.S. collections.

Rembrandt manipulated his copper plates in unprecedented ways to achieve an image that was often in flux. This exhibition focuses on 18 of Rembrandt’s most dramatically changed images and presents them side by side to give visitors a chance to examine the works’ power, range, and nuance. Many of the changes Rembrandt made to his states show that he had an unconventional working process. The high survival rate of these states indicates that many of these states were not mere working proofs, but actual finished products. Recent development in Rembrandt print research has given art historians a much clearer idea as to which changes Rembrandt made himself, and which changes were made after his death.

“Rembrandt’s Changing Impressions” is the first time since the 1969 show “Rembrandt: Experimental Etcher” at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, that such an exhibition has been undertaken. A publication reproducing the works included in the exhibition will be available; it is co-produced and distributed by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König (Köln).

The exhibition will be accompanied by a range of public events, including a symposium on November 5 from 3-6 pm, and a gallery tour with contemporary printmaker Brad Kahlhamer (date and time to be announced) to offer a contemporary perspective. A special Family Day will be held on October 10, from 10 am – 1 pm, to provide visitors of all ages with exhibition tours as well as a hands-on workshop to be held at the LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Studies in Columbia’s School of the Arts.

Loans for the exhibition have been provided by the Baltimore Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts- Boston, Harvard Art Museums, Hood Museum of Art-Dartmouth College, the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Morgan Library and Museum, National Gallery of Art, the New York Public Library, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Davison Art Center-Wesleyan University and Yale University Art Gallery, as well as two private lenders facilitated by C.G. Boerner Gallery.

Events

Exhibition Reception:

Thursday, September 10, 6 – 8 pm. Schermerhorn Hall, 8th floor.

Family Day:

Saturday, October 10, 10 am – 1 pm. Schermerhorn Hall, 8th floor. Space limited, more info and register here.

Symposium: Rembrandt’s Changing Impressions:

Thursday, November 5, 3 – 6 pm. Buell Hall, East Gallery. More info and register here.

About the Wallach Art Gallery

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery advances Columbia University’s historical, critical and creative engagement with the visual arts. It serves as both a laboratory and forum, and offers opportunities for curatorial practice and discourse while bridging the diverse approaches to the arts at the University with a broader public. The Wallach Art Gallery was established in 1986 and is Columbia University’s premier visual arts space. The gallery is a platform for critically acclaimed exhibitions, a dynamic range of programming, and publications that have made lasting contributions to scholarship. In late 2016, The Wallach Art Gallery will expand its space, ambition and reach when it moves into The Lenfest Center for the Arts, a new state-of-the-art complex now being built on Columbia’s Manhattanville campus. Designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the five-floor, 53,000-square-foot structure will stand prominently on a small public plaza on West 125th Street between Broadwayand 12th Avenue, just west of the Jerome L. Greene Science Center.