President's Report Masthead
March 31, 2014
Art Museum presents ’50 Works on Paper’

Jonathan Cohen
Visitors look at one of the 50 works on paper during the opening reception of the exhibit.

Art Museum presents ’50 Works on Paper’

Prints, drawings and photographs from the University Art Museum’s permanent collection will receive special attention when the “50 Works on Paper” exhibition opens this semester.

The exhibition, which includes etchings by Rembrandt van Rijn and Salvador Dali, a photograph from Cindy Sherman and a lithograph by Alexander Calder, will kick off with an opening reception at the museum from 5-7 p.m. Jan. 30. The exhibition will remain on display at the museum’s main gallery in the Fine Arts Building through April 5.

“We wanted to pick 50 works that would be representative of different traditions,” Art Museum Director Diane Butler said. “We didn’t want to have all Old Master European prints. There are Japanese woodcuts, American and Mexican contemporary pieces, an Israeli print and others. We are trying to pull from different areas of our collection, while keeping the quality high.”

The exhibition also serves as a fund-raiser to increase access to the permanent collection of more than 3,000 objects. Upon taking over as director in September 2012, Butler noticed than many of the printed works were either not shelved or were not properly matted.

“It’s a big project to re-mat everything,” Butler said. “The dollar signs were adding up. I thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be a nice occasion to raise money for the preservation of these objects so they can be seen in the Kenneth C. Lindsay Study Room?’ I also like this initiative because people can get a sense of the quality of artwork we have in the collection.”

Read more in Inside