STUDENTS IN HARVARD SEMINAR ORGANIZE PRINTS EXHIBITION AT THE UNIVERSITY'S FOGG ART MUSEUM

Works by Piranesi, Munch, Matisse, Picasso, Klee, Lichtenstein, Judd, Warhol, and Ruscha Demonstrate a Variety of Print Techniques and Functions

CAMBRIDGE, MA (October 13, 2004)-A new exhibition organized by students in a Harvard seminar on the history of printmaking presents diverse graphic systems and conveys the unique vocabularies and functions of prints. On view at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum from October 9, 2004, through January 30, 2005, Prints: System, Style, and Subject includes 53 works from the Harvard University Art Museums collection. Although most of the works are prints, the show includes two paintings and a sculpture on loan from the artist.

The exhibition asks visitors to take an objective look at the nature of graphic marks, and to understand printmaking as a language with its own vocabulary, grammar, syntax, poetry, and prose. The prints are organized into eight groups according to themes chosen by the students. Among the groups:

• Irony presents contemporary prints in which artists address issues of identity, sexuality, popular culture, and politics. Irony is the vehicle and style of communication.
• Portraits offers prints in which artists focus the narrative nature of the portrait on elements they wish to emphasize. Alternatives to photography's more realistic representation, prints allow artists to exhibit more obvious elements of craftsmanship.
• Rouen Cathedral, devoted to architectural prints, demonstrates the importance of choosing a printing method, since it usually determines the character of the finished product. Each process confers constraints and opportunities on the artist, and single lines or individual shapes often say as much about an artist's goals as an entire work does.

"Bringing Harvard students together to organize this exhibition as an extension to their classroom learning is at the heart of what we do here," said Thomas W. Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "It provides them with invaluable experiences that are hard to duplicate elsewhere, and as part of that process new scholarship and new aspects of our collections emerge. All of us benefit."

The exhibition includes two paintings and the prints that reproduced them in the pre-photographic era. Ingres' Raphael and the Fornarina, 1814, and Gericault's The White Horse Tavern, 1822-23, are presented alongside their respective reproductions to show the printmakers' reconceptualization in black and white of the colors and textures of oil painting.

"There is nothing better than observing the eyes and minds of students at work on our art collections, in this case, our print collection," said Marjorie B. Cohn, Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints. "Their lively vision gives us all a new perspective on some of our most famous works, such as Warhol's portrait of President Kennedy, while still discovering hidden treasures for display."

Giving students an opportunity to organize an exhibition is in keeping with the Art Museums' tradition of shaping generations of leaders and scholars in the museum field. That tradition began with the pivotal "Museum Course" first given at the Fogg in 1921 by Paul Sachs, the renowned associate director. His course combined connoisseurship with practical experience in museum work, such as mounting exhibitions and participating in research. Both Sachs and director at the time, Edward W. Forbes, envisioned a university art museum as a kind of laboratory for art historians and museum professionals that would inspire the scholarship necessary for a major art museum.

Gallery Talks
Fogg Art Museum
Free with the price of Admission.

Sunday, October 17, 2004, 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 13, 2004, 2:00 p.m.
Marjorie B. Cohn, Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints

About the Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums are one of the world's leading arts institutions, with the Arthur M. Sackler, Busch-Reisinger, and Fogg art museums, the Straus Center for Conservation, and the U.S. headquarters for the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, an excavation project in western Turkey.

The Harvard University Art Museums are distinguished by the range and depth of their collections, their groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of their staff. As an integral part of the Harvard community, the three art museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension to their areas of study. The public is welcome to experience the collections and exhibitions as well as to enjoy lectures, symposia, and other programs.

For more than a century, the Harvard University Art Museums have been the nation's premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars and are renowned for their role in the development of the discipline of art history in this country.

Location and Hours
The Fogg Art Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum are located at 32 Quincy Street in Cambridge. The Arthur M. Sackler Museum is located next door at 485 Broadway. Each Museum is a short walk from the Harvard Square MBTA station.

Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Sunday 1 - 5 p.m.; the Museums are closed on national holidays. Admission is $6.50; $5 for seniors; $5 for students; and free for those under 18 years of age. The Museums are free to everyone Saturday mornings, 10 a.m. - noon. The Harvard University Art Museums receive support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. More detailed information is available at 617-495-9400 or on the Internet at www.artmuseums.harvard.edu.

# # #

For more information on this appointment or the Harvard University Art Museums, please contact:

Matthew Barone
Harvard University Art Museums
tel 617-495-2397; fax 617-496-9762
mbarone@fas.harvard.edu

or

Kim Gilbert/Casey Barber
Resnicow Schroeder Associates
tel 212-671-5157; fax 212-595-8354
kgilbert@resnicowschroeder.com
cbarber@resnicowschroeder.com