Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760-1849), Sketchbooks, detail, Japanese, Edo period, Ink on paper, 2006.1863.1-3, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. |
Putting forth a Definition of Drawing that Spans Centuries and Cultures |
Unidentified artist, Celebrating Couple Among Flowers and Sprays, detail, 19th century, Pen, watercolor and gouache on paper, 60.1114, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Maxim Karolik, 1800-1875, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Medici Factory, Italy (Italian), Cruet for Oil and Vinegar, Italian (Florence), 1575–87, Soft-paste porcelain, underglaze blue decoration, 12.717, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of the Estate of Professor Henry Williamson, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Unidentified artist, American, Pelican Feeding Her Young, detail, 19th century (American), Watercolor, pen and brown ink on paper, 56.760, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of Maxim Karolik, 1800–1875, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. |
Dish, English (Bristol or Brislington), about 1740, Tin-glazed earthenware with cobalt, antimony, copper and iron oxide painted and sponged decoration, 2000.708, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Lloyd and Vivian Hawes Collection, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Related to the D’Agostino Painter, Campanian fish plate, Greek, South Italian, about 350–325 B.C., Ceramic,
Codex-style cylinder vase, Maya, Late Classic period, A.D. 680–750, Earthenware: brown-black and red on cream |
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Drawing: A Broader Definition brings together master drawings from around the world in an unconventional exhibition that includes 66 drawings on a variety of surfaces (paper, ceramic, metal, cloth) produced by artists from diverse world cultures and ranging in date from 4000 BC to the 1950s. Comprised of objects from across the MFA’s collection, the exhibition compares how artists in different times and places have inventively rendered the same subjects: the human figure, landscape, birds and animals, fish and flowers. Curated by Clifford Ackley, Department Chair and Shapiro Curator of Prints and Drawings, the exhibition originated in speculation about how a brush drawing by the great Spanish artist, Goya, would look next to a brush drawing by the great Japanese artist, Hokusai. It has resulted in a number of comparisons between objects such as ancient Maya and Greek ceramics, Chinese monochrome paintings on silk and African loincloths, as well as drawings by Delacroix. Unexpected juxtapositions between works of diverse media, date, and world cultures will be arranged thematically to emphasize the visual contrasts and comparison. “The drawings on view in this exhibition dramatize the endless inventiveness of the human mind, eye and hand,” said Ackley. “Drawn from the Museum’s extensive collection, this exhibition focuses on the sheer pleasure of looking at, and comparing, works from diverse world cultures.” Exquisite pieces, rarely on view, are brought together in these juxtapositions, showing the span of the Museum’s encyclopedic collection. The Goya drawing Two Men Fighting (1817–20) and Hokusai’s roughly contemporary Sketchbooks compare and contrast masters from different parts of the world sharing a theme of struggle, while the Codex-style cylinder vase (about A.D. 680-750) decorated with a turkey from the Maya culture in Guatemala, and the 19th century American (Pennsylvania German) drawing watercolor Pelican Feeding Her Young both depict birds in terms of intricate, calligraphic linear patterning. In addition to these thematic comparisons, the exhibition includes individual drawings on a variety of surfaces, such as White dish decorated with a green fish (1957) by Pablo Picasso and a batik Scarf (about 1918) by Marguerite Zorach. There are also drawings on Etruscan bronze mirror backs, African pygmy loincloths, Egyptian stone chips, and on expressive decorated ceramics both ancient and modern, from the West and East. |
Francisco Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746–1828), Two Men Fighting, detail, 1817-20, Brush and brown (irongall) ink, with scraping, 2002.430, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Bequest of, Eleanor A. Sayre, Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. |
