Exhibition presents four hundred years of drawing from the RISD Museum

13 mars 2022

Exhibition presents four hundred years of drawing from the RISD Museum

Anton Løvenberg, Study of a Sculptural Male Torso, ca. 1840–1850. RISD Museum, Gift of Frederick Lovenberg.

PROVIDNCE, RI.- The RISD Museum announces Drawing Closer: Four Hundred Years of Drawing from the RISD Museum, on view March 12 through September 4, 2022.

Drawing Closer brings together 67 works from the RISD Museum’s collection of European drawings produced between the 1500s and the 1800s—some recently acquired, others never before exhibited. The exhibition is conceived as a guide to looking at these works from the perspectives of their makers while highlighting the breadth, depth, and variety of a living collection that is used today to teach and inspire students and visitors.

The exhibition and its accompanying digital catalog, is an invitation to consider how and why drawings were created, paying special attention to the materials they were made of and to the functions they served both in the artist’s studio and in the world outside it. Seven distinct but interrelated sections explore media and techniques such as pen, chalk, ink wash, and watercolor, as well as some of the traditional purposes of drawing, including observation, invention, preparation, and amusement.
“I am thrilled that after pandemic-related delays we can finally share this exhibition with the public”, states curator Jamie Gabbarelli, “I hope the show and the accompanying publication will increase the visibility of the RISD Museum's excellent but still under-recognized collection of European drawings. The selection and presentation of the works in the show is meant to highlight the collection's breadth, diversity, and relevance for art students and art lovers alike.”

This project is made possible by a lead grant from the Getty Foundation as part of its Paper Project initiative. “Drawing Closer is an excellent example of how our grants support curatorial experimentation to engage 21st-century museum audiences,” says Heather MacDonald, senior program officer at the Getty Foundation who oversees Paper Project grantmaking. “People are innately curious about how artworks are made, and the structure of this catalog and digital publication are a generous invitation to learn more about the craft behind the drawings in RISD’s collection.”

George Moutard Woodward, Study for Symptoms of Matrimony, ca. 1796. Pen and ink and watercolor on paper, mounted in a bound volume of drawings. Transfer from the RISD Library. RISD Museum, Gift of Mrs. Jesse H. Metcalf.

Willem van Mieris, Galatea and Cupid, 1696 - 1702. Black chalk on vellum. RISD Museum, Gift of Norman and Tamara Bolotow.

George Romney, Study for the Portrait of Frances Woodley (Mrs. Henry Bankes), ca. 1780. Black ink and brush and wash on laid paper. RISD Museum, Gift of Carroll Carstairs.

Pier Leone Ghezzi, Le Chevalier de La Motte, ca. 1725 - 1730, RISD Museum, Gift of Janos Scholz.

Bartolomeo Pinelli, Pinelli alla Trattoria (Pinelli at the Restaurant), 1824. Pen and ink, brush and wash, and graphite on wove paper, RISD Museum, Museum Works of Art Fund.

Hendrik de Clerck, David and Abigail, ca. 1590-1600. Pen and ink and brush and wash with traces of squaring in black chalk on laid paper. RISD Museum, Gift of Miss Ellen D. Sharpe.

Henry Fuseli, Head of a Lady, ca. 1810-1815. Black chalk on laid paper. RISD Museum, Museum Purchase: Anonymous gift.

Jane Ogden, Bluebells and Primroses with a Bird’s Nest, 1866. Watercolor and opaque watercolor on wove paper, RISD Museum, Gift of in memory of Susan Gotti from her family and friends.

Ottavio Leoni, Portrait of the Signora Licinia Leni, Marchesa Martinenghi, 1626. Black, red, and white chalks on blue laid paper (faded to buff), RISD Museum, Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke.