Annual Henri Zerner Lecture (In-Person): Christiane Baumgartner’s Monumental Woodcuts

This is an in-person event.

This program is sponsored by Harvard’s Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Harvard Art Museums and through the generosity of alumni and friends in establishing the Henri Zerner Lecture Fund.

German artist Christiane Baumgartner is best known for her monumental woodcuts based on her own films, photographs, and video stills. In her lecture, Baumgartner will discuss her recent work, explore aspects of image perception in the graphic arts, and consider how much information we need to be able to “read” an image.

The artist will introduce the process of creating woodcuts and prints in relation to the themes of the passing of time and slowing down. Her woodcuts bring together digital and analog systems, and she will discuss the importance of the handmade in her woodcuts, including inaccuracies and mistakes. She will speak about how her experience growing up in East Germany during the DDR (German Democratic Republic) has influenced her practice and will also consider how the tradition of German woodcuts relates to her own work. She’ll explore her use of the continuous line and the line grid and her development of themes such as speed and standstill, light and color.

Christiane Baumgartner (b. 1967) studied at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst, Leipzig, and the Royal College of Art in London. Her work is held in over 70 public collections around the world, including the Albertina, Vienna; Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris; Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; National Gallery of Victoria, Australia; and Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge. Her work is currently on view at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, in Washington, D.C., in an exhibition titled Positive Fragmentation: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation. Baumgartner lives and works in Leipzig, Germany.

The lecture will take place in Menschel Hall, Lower Level. Please enter the museums via the entrance on Broadway. Doors will open at 5:30pm.

Please note that while face coverings are optional in all other spaces in the Harvard Art Museums, they are required for attendees at all programs in Menschel Hall. The museums will make disposable masks available for visitors who do not bring their own. Please review our general visitor policies, including details on COVID-related precaution.

Free admission, but seating is limited. Reservations may be arranged by clicking on the event on this form.

Limited complimentary parking is available in the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton Street, Cambridge.

Modern and contemporary art programs at the Harvard Art Museums are made possible in part by generous support from the Emily Rauh Pulitzer and Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., Fund for Modern and Contemporary Art.