Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection

On view in the Johnson Gallery for Drawings and Prints is a recently acquired portrait of French eighteenth-century sculptor Étienne Maurice Falconet (1716–1791) by his teacher Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger (1704–1778) exhibited alongside other drawings by sculptors of the period. Also inspired by a recent acquisition is a selection of drawings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries showing various ways of dissecting complicated architectural structures in a two-dimensional representation, including a very rare, newly acquired architectural drawing by the Dutch painter Pieter Jansz. Saenredam.

A group of prints in circular formats dating from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries is also on display, with works by Lucas van Leyden, Jacques Androuet Du Cerceau, and Hendrick Goltzius. Other highlights include engravings by Marcantonio Raimondi and Marco Dente after Raphael and drawings and prints relating to the sixteenth-century French artist Jean Cousin the Elder.

This rotation also features several thematic groupings, including one centered on the feast of Carnival, typically celebrated in February, which has inspired many interesting images showing people's antics during the festivities but are sometimes meant to serve as a moral compass. In this selection of prints we see the celebrations through the eyes and burins of artists such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Jacques Callot, and Jacques II de Gheyn. In addition, a selection from the Museum's large collection of textile designs focuses on attractive and colorful patterns designed for various functions in the first half of the twentieth century with contributions by famous artists and designers such as Erté and Stuart Davis.

Also on view is Max Klinger's surreal print series Ein Handschuh (A Glove), 1881, the German artist's best known and most admired graphic works, along with the pastel drawing entitled The Offering, 1891, by Klinger's Belgian contemporary the symbolist Fernand Khnopff.