Looking Ahead to Spring Exhibitions

Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528), The Resurrection, not dated, woodcut, 4-15/16 x 3-13/16 inches, University of Wyoming Art Museum Collection, 1983.149.2

While the Art Museum galleries are closed, the staff is busy getting ready for all new spring exhibitions.  Seven exhibitions will open on Friday, February 1 at a free opening reception from 6 to 8 pm.  

One of the new exhibitions opening is, Old Master Prints of the 15^th and 16^th Centuries: Selections from the Art Museum Collection, which focuses on the German Old Masters and their role in the evolution of European printmaking.  During the last quarter of the 15^th century, prints such as etchings, woodcuts and engravings gained some prominence among the pictorial arts as printmakers began to adopt the formal vocabulary of painters and sculptors.  At the same time, they began to shed their anonymity as craftsmen as they worked more independently, becoming Masters of their local artist’s guilds.  Many of these Masters, Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach among them, worked in other mediums, but it was their prints that created their international reputations.  Their works on paper could achieve a wider distribution than their paintings.

This is a great opportunity to see work from historically important artists and some truly masterful printmaking techniques.  Be sure to check out this and all the new exhibitions at the end of the month!