States of Play: Prints from Rembrandt to Delsarte

, University Research Gallery, Harvard Art Museums
This side-by-side image features two versions of the same Cubist-style print of a woman’s face. Black, red, blue, and yellow inks are used in the portrait at right; red and yellow inks are used at left.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), Jacqueline with Glossy Hair, 1962. State iii/v: red on yellow on beige (left); state v/v: black on blue on red on yellow on beige (right). Linocuts on white wove paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Margaret Fisher Fund and purchase through generosity of Jeanne and Geoff Champion and Barbara K. Wheaton, 2018.308.5, 2018.308.9. Artwork: © 2021 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Harvard Art Museums; © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

University Research Gallery, Harvard Art Museums

Immerse yourself in the world of printmaking, tracing how artists move step by step to painstakingly rework and refine their images.

Spanning more than three centuries, the works in this exhibition—by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt, Lee Krasner, Jacques Philippe Le Bas, and Louis Delsarte—unveil the layers of creative revision, correction, and adjustment behind finished prints. Central to this process is the concept of a “print state,” which traditionally refers to a version of a print that precedes the final product. The exhibition explores how artists across time have maximized the iterative potential of states, for reasons ranging from the practical to the whimsical. By decoding creative choices that the artist pursued or abandoned in each successive step, the exhibition helps uncover the full breadth of experimentation and demystifies printmaking terminology and techniques.

The works on view, which also include prints by Anthony van Dyck, Louise Nevelson, Paul Signac, Edvard Munch, Albert Besnard, Félix Hilaire Buhot, Sol LeWitt, and others, are drawn from the Harvard Art Museums collections.

Curated by Elizabeth M. Rudy, Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints, Harvard Art Museums; with contributions by Elie Glyn (Assistant Director for Exhibitions), Thea Goldring (Graduate Student Intern, Division of European and American Art, Spring/Summer 2019), Casey Kane Monahan (Cunningham Curatorial Assistant for the Collection, Division of European and American Art), Matt Roza (Exhibition Designer), and Christina Taylor (Assistant Paper Conservator).

This exhibition was made possible by the Robert M. Light Print Department Fund. Related programming is supported by the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund.

Watch
Learn more about the exhibition in our series of videos on Vimeo, including an introduction by curator Elizabeth Rudy, printmaking demonstrations, and a conversation with Boston-area printmakers.

Showing 12 of 53 objects

2008.25.1: Self-Portrait

Print of man with mustache looking over his shoulder
2008.25.1
Anthony van Dyck
Self-Portrait
Prints

2012.73: In the Ashes

Print of seated woman lit from below
2012.73
Albert Besnard
In the Ashes
Prints

2012.74: In the Ashes

Print of seated woman with woman in background leaning against doorway
2012.74
Albert Besnard
In the Ashes
Prints

2012.90: The Spirits of Dead Cities

Print of figures levitating above landscape with body of water
2012.90
Félix Hilaire Buhot
The Spirits of Dead Cities
Prints

2012.94: The Spirits of Dead Cities

A hazy landscape where buildings with steeples and crosses line the horizon. On the left, a perched owl stands above a body of water. A long line of figures stretches from the center foreground toward the right. In the sky, faint robed figures are suspended above the landscape.
2012.94
Félix Hilaire Buhot
The Spirits of Dead Cities
Prints

2012.261: Woman's Head against the Shore

A woman’s face in three quarter profile with a shoreline behind her
2012.261
Edvard Munch
Woman's Head against the Shore
Prints

2012.272: Woman's Head against the Shore

A woman’s face in three quarter profile with a blue-green and red shoreline behind her
2012.272
Edvard Munch, Printed by M. W. Lassally
Woman's Head against the Shore
Prints

2017.43: Forest Road in Königstein with Mail Coach

A horse-drawn cart and rider travel down a road through a dense forest
2017.43
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Forest Road in Königstein with Mail Coach
Prints

2018.2: Printing Plate: The Old Port of Messina

An etched copper plate depicted with a European port scene. Small groups of men are along the bottom with tall, white buildings behind them on the right. The left side shows tall ships.
2018.2
Jacques Philippe Le Bas, After Claude Lorrain
Printing Plate: The Old Port of Messina
Prints

2018.33.5: Unity

A woman holding a child is seated on an easy chair in a living room with her family gathered around her.
2018.33.5
Louis Delsarte
Unity
Prints

2018.33.6.1: Unity (mylar/separation)

A woman holding a child is seated on an easy chair in a living room with her family gathered around her
2018.33.6.1
Louis Delsarte
Unity (mylar/separation)
Prints