The Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announces the new exhibition Dürer to Matisse: 400 Years of European Prints, on view Sept. 27, 2024-Jan. 5, 2025.
Dürer to Matisse, curated from the Ackland's collection, offers an exceptional opportunity to view nearly 100 prints by some of the most recognized artists active from the late fifteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, beginning and ending with two towering giants of printmaking — Albrecht Dürer and Henri Matisse.
Théodore Géricault, 1791-1824, The Boxers (Boxeurs), 1818, crayon and brush lithograph on paper, 14 5/16 x 16 7/16 in. (36.3 x 41.7 cm). The William A. Whitaker Foundation Art Fund, 2018.40.2.
The Ackland Art Museum holds North Carolina’s largest and most comprehensive collections of art on paper, but due to light sensitivity, these works can only be displayed for short periods. Works by Rembrandt van Rijn, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Francisco de Goya, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, Vincent van Gogh, Käthe Kollwitz, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, and many others showcase the craftsmanship, expressive power, and aesthetic beauty achieved through printmaking.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), The Triumph of Mordecai , ca. 1641, Ackland Art Museum, United States
"Curating this exhibition has been deeply rewarding. With the Ackland's vast collection of European prints, narrowing it down to just under one hundred examples was challenging. The selected works showcase the extraordinary skill and creativity of both well-known and lesser-known artists, highlighting printmaking's versatility as an art form, its role in disseminating knowledge, and its capacity to elicit strong emotions. Because there are so many amazing and thought-provoking works, the exhibition is one that rewards close looking and repeat viewings, and I hope visitors will walk away as passionate about printmaking as I am," said Dana Cowen, the Ackland's Sheldon Peck Curator for European and American Art before 1950.
While this exhibition emphasizes high quality and excellent condition, rather than presenting a comprehensive history of the medium, the prints on view do chart the progression of art historical movements from the Renaissance to Cubism and beyond, through woodcuts, engravings, etchings, aquatints, mezzotints, and lithographs. Some newly acquired and never before displayed at the Ackland, and others off view for decades, these prints reveal how the use of black ink, paper, and various printmaking techniques can create a wealth of innovative and technically stunning works of art.
This presentation of Dürer to Matisse builds on a project developed for the Ackland Exchange Initiative, in which thirty-six European prints were lent to Fayetteville State University and Elizabeth City State University during the fall of 2023. Both exhibitions were organized by Dana Cowen.
Cornelis Visscher Dutch, c. 1629-1658, The Large Cat, 1657, engraving, sheet: 5 1/2 x 7 3/16 in. (14 x 18.3 cm). Burton Emmett Collection, 58.1.837.