Precision and Prestige: The Arts of Engraving

This exhibition will show examples of engraving, which was the printmaking technique of the highest status from the 15th through the 19th centuries and yet is now practically extinct. Examples of engraving as a craft and as a fine art will be presented, with attention paid to the function of the technique, the syntax of its graphic systems, and the relationship of technique to expression. The exhibition includes not only masterpieces by artists ranging from Dürer to Picasso, but also stock certificates, scientific instruments, and maps, to show more mundane applications of engraving.

Organized by four students—Johanna Richardson and Suzanne Gauron, Harvard Class of 2001; Nenita Elphick, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History of Art and Architecture; and Maya Benton, Ed.M. candidate in the Graduate School of Education—under the guidance of Marjorie B. Cohn, Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints, Fogg Art Museum.