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The MFAH has received important works of graphic art since its inception, but it was not until 1991 under the directorship of Peter C. Marzio, a former print curator, that the museum formalized its collection with the founding of the Department of Prints and Drawings. Focusing almost exclusively on art after the Middle Ages in Western Europe and North America, this encyclopedic collection comprises approximately 6,600 prints, 1,500 drawings, 90 books and manuscripts, and 200 pieces of printing equipment. With the completion of the Audrey Jones Beck Building in 2000, the museum opened the Works on Paper Study Center, the most state-of-the-art study room and storage facility for works on paper in the American Southwest. The department is responsible for mounting exhibitions based on its own permanent collection and on other public and private collections (Past Exhibitions). Because works on paper are sensitive to light and climate conditions, these exhibitions are on display for only a few months at a time. Most of the works that are not on display may be examined in the Works on Paper Study Center at the museum, by appointment.
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Ewan Gibbs: Arlington National Cemetery
November 11, 2012–February 10, 2013
British draftsman Ewan Gibbs (born 1973) premieres a series of drawings based on his own photographs of Arlington National Cemetery along with photographs from the MFAH collection by artists who have inspired him.
Princes & Paupers: The Art of Jacques Callot
January 31–May 5, 2013
This exhibition explores the technically innovative etchings of Jacques Callot, the 17th-century artist who revolutionized printmaking and was fascinated by a broad range of themes, from paupers to princes.
The Artist's Palette: Primary Colors on Paper
March 5–June 9, 2013
Explore how artists employ the primary colors (blue, red, and yellow) in this dazzling display of prints, drawings, and photographs from the MFAH collections by modern and contemporary artists.
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The department’s early works are chiefly European. Starting with the second half of the 19th century, the collection becomes more balanced between European and American works on paper. The department has a strong collection of old master prints including 100 early German woodcuts and engravings, 50 of which are by Albrecht Dürer, and prints by Rembrandt and Jacques Bellange. Rare impressions include works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Canaletto, and Camille Pissarro; the deluxe edition of Max Klinger’s portfolio A Love; and an early impression of Edvard Munch’s 1895 Self-Portrait. The department has a substantial American print collection with 1,500 wood engravings by Winslow Homer, Thomas Nast, and Frederic Remington. The core of the contemporary print collection is a large group of works made by American and European artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Enzo Cucchi, Eric Fischl, David Rabinowitch, and James Turrell.
The department also collects master drawings from the 16th century to the present, and has exceptional examples by Edgar Degas, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Paul Klee, Adolphe Menzel, Pablo Picasso, and Odilon Redon. In the mid-1990s, the museum began acquiring significant drawings by Abstract Expressionist painters, including Jackson Pollock, Robert Motherwell, William Baziotes, James Brooks, Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Franz Kline, and Richard Pousette-Dart. Another departmental focus is drawings by 20th-century sculptors, among them Aristide Maillol and David Smith. Since 2000, the museum has also acquired major works on paper by Jasper Johns.
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The MFAH acquires new artworks through purchase and gifts from generous donors. In 2011, the Prints and Drawings Department acquired an exceptional group of works on paper, which are presented in the adjacent slideshow. Highlights include an extremely rare and high-quality impression of Franz Marc’s woodcut Ruhende Pferde (Resting Horses); Julie Mehretu’s monumental intaglio portfolio Auguries; a scarce early drawing by Old Master Guido Reni; and Two Flags, an ink-on-plastic drawing by Jasper Johns, the artist who pioneered this medium.
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In 1996, the MFAH acquired all of the individual prints, portfolios, and books that the Peter Blum Edition published from its inception in 1980 through 1994. Founded by Peter Blum, an American-born art critic, dealer, and filmmaker, the Peter Blum Edition focuses exclusively on publishing prints by contemporary American and European artists. Blum himself and Blumarts Inc., the parent company of the Peter Blum Edition, also donated all of the related preparatory material (more than 1,000 objects), providing a complete record of many of the print projects. In 2006, the MFAH showcased this important acquisition in the three-part exhibition Singular Multiples: The Peter Blum Edition Archive, 1980–1994, the largest exhibition ever in North America devoted entirely to printmaking.
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The Kelseys have donated over 1,300 American prints and research materials to the MFAH. This includes 600 wood engravings by Thomas Nast and 400 works by Winslow Homer. Nearly complete sets of Nast's and Homer's graphic oeuvres, these gifts span the artists’ careers and constitute the largest and most thorough collections of their work in any library or museum. In addition to these impressive gifts, the Kelseys have also donated over 300 wood engravings by Frederic Remington.
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Cofounders of the Department of Prints and Drawings, the Jacksons donated their first print to the MFAH in 1981. In 2001 they initiated the most important gift in the department’s history: 70 thoughtfully chosen prints of the highest quality and condition, to which they added 8 more in 2005. Together, the Jacksons created an internationally renowned collection of more than 1,000 objects with a strong emphasis on Parisian color lithographs dating from 1890 to 1910. In addition to masterworks, they also collected ephemera (posters, music covers, playbills, etc.) to present a fully rounded view of avant-garde art in France at the turn of the century. Over the years, the Jacksons have continued to donate noteworthy prints to the department and have played an important role in its collecting practices.
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Virginia and Ira Jackson created an endowment in 1998 to fund an annual lecture on print and drawing collecting and connoisseurship. Today, the Annual Virginia and Ira Jackson Lecture remains the only ongoing lecture program of its type in the country. This free, public lecture series is just one of the many contributions these important collectors have made to the MFAH. Past Lectures
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MFAH Members interested in prints and drawings are invited to join Art + Paper, the patron group for the Department of Prints and Drawings. Art + Paper meets four to five times a year, September through June, for exhibition previews and openings, lectures by internationally renowned art historians and collectors, behind-the-scenes tours, workshops, and visits to artists’ studios and private collections. At the final meeting each year, Art + Paper members use their dues to acquire artworks for the MFAH.
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The Works on Paper Study Center is available to students, scholars, artists, and other individuals who wish to view works from the museum’s collections of photography and prints and drawings. Open by appointment to groups of up to 20, the study center is located in the Beck Building. The Hirsch Library contains a large collection of books about prints and drawings and is open to museum visitors and the general public. Visit the Hirsch Library page for information on library hours and access to the online catalog.