Verso: The Flip Side of Master Drawings

The 32 artists whose drawings are on display range from Renaissance masters like Michelangelo, to modernists such as Picasso, to the contemporary artist Fred Sandback. In all cases, both the front and the back of the sheet have been used, sometimes as documents. This is the first exhibition devoted entirely to the display of drawings as three-dimensional objects with both a front and a back. Many of the flip sides, called versos, are revealed to the public for the first time.

The selected versos convey important information about artistic personalities, the creative process, and workshop practice. They also lead to the exploration of broader concepts like the function of drawing, the history of the use of paper, and the changing value of drawings over time. A recurring question is, “Which side is the verso, and who decides?” The decision seldom belongs to the artist, though the twentieth century did see a shift toward a conceptual self-consciousness on the part of artists who use the verso. More often the collector, curator, or cataloguer is the one to designate which side should be considered the front and which the back, a decision that often reflects tastes and biases unconnected with the artists’ intentions.

Artists represented in the exhibition include Filippino Lippi, Pietro Perugino, Michelangelo, Paolo Veronese, Agostino Carracci, Claude Lorrain, Salvator Rosa, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Jacques-Louis David, John Singer Sargent, Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Henry Moore, David Smith, and Claes Oldenburg.

Organized by James G. Harper, former Lynn and Philip A. Straus Curatorial Intern in the Department of Drawings (1998–99) at the Fogg Art Museum, and assistant professor of art history at the University of Oregon.

A fully illustrated and annotated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.