Italian Prints Exhibited at Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery
KEENE, N.H., 11/03/06 - An exhibition four years in the making, “The Simple Art: Printed Images in an Age of Magnificence,” opens Thurs., Nov. 9, and runs through Sun., Dec. 10, at the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery at Keene State College. The exhibition showcases 49 works illuminating the role of the printed image within the development of 16-century Italian culture.
Curator Patricia Emison, professor of art history and humanities at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), gathered the prints in the show from seven New England public collections. Emison presents a walk through the exhibition at 6:30 p.m., Fri., Nov. 17, as part of a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., hosted by Friends of the Thorne. The reception is free and open to the public.
Prints in the exhibition are made with different techniques such as engravings, etchings, and woodcuts. While many of the prints are modeled after works by Renaissance masters, including Michelangelo and Raphael, there is no typical print. Religious imagery does not dominate as it did in the painting and sculpture of the time - even the Madonna and Child subject is relatively rare in prints.
As an art form, printmaking offers flexibility. Prints made at the time were noncommissioned works. Generally, prints need much less investment in time and materials than what was normal for producing a painting. Prints can be easily and inexpensively produced, making them widely available and affordable. Prints introduced a highly developed form of art to the masses of the 16th century because even early printmakers capitalized on sophisticated techniques of drawing and metalwork.
The exhibition is organized by The Art Gallery, UNH, with funding from the FEDCO Charitable Foundation, the International Fine Print Dealers Association, the Winthrop L. Carter Jr. Fund for Special Exhibitions, the Friends of The Art Gallery, Edmund G. Miller, and the John W. Hatch Art Faculty Development Fund.
The gallery is also showing two related exhibitions through Dec. 10. “Techniques and Styles: A Sampling of Paintings and Drawings” uses works by Paul Cezanne, Hans Sebald Beham, and others to illustrate the variety of techniques and media in classics of two-dimensional Western arts. “Prints by Women: Selected Works” traces the evolution of printmaking by Kollwitz, Frankenthaler, and other women artists, and parallels increased social freedom in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery is located on the Keene State campus on Wyman Way, off Main Street in Keene. Gallery hours are from noon to 4 p.m., Sat.-Wed., and noon to 7 p.m., Thurs. and Fri. The gallery is closed Veterans Day, Fri., Nov. 10, and during the Thanksgiving break, Wed.-Sun., Nov. 22-26.
“The Simple Art” is free and open to the public. The Thorne is accessible to people with disabilities. Call the gallery at least two weeks prior to visiting to request accommodations for a disability. For more information, call 603-358-2720 or visit www.keene.edu/tsag.
