Works of a Renaissance Master: The Prints of Albrecht Dürer
from the National Gallery of Canada
August 23–November 2, 2008
No other artist from outside of Italy was as admired by Italian Renaissance artists as Albrecht Dürer They even went so far as to copy his works. His prints were especially esteemed. In one instance, Dürer sued a well-known Florentine artist for issuing forged copies of his prints…and won his case.
Albrecht Dürer worked closely with some of the leading Italian Renaissance painters and is widely credited with spreading the style and ideas of Italian Renaissance humanism and classicist innovations throughout northern Europe at the beginning of the 1500s. It was his woodcuts and engravings especially that helped to establish his fame. They were widely distributed during his lifetime and remain compelling today as images of astonishing originality, invention, iconographic complexity and technical virtuosity. At an auction of his prints held at Christies in London in December of 2007 just 91 prints sold for over two million pounds (about $4million Canadian).
Dürer was born and worked most of his life in Nuremburg, a thriving centre of printmaking and book illustration at the time. Here Dürer learned his craft in the studio of Michael Wolgemut, a painter well known for his woodcut illustrations. Intrigued by artistic developments in Italy, Dürer traveled to Venice in the years 1494-1495 and again in 1505-1507. Both visits had a profound impact on his art and printmaking. He began to explore the secrets of perspective and to wed ideals of beauty, proportion and harmony to the northern European taste for realism and detail.
Drawn from the National Gallery of Canada’s fine collection of Dürer prints, the selection of works in this exhibition demonstrates the masterful range of Dürer’s printmaking genius and his innovative approach to subject matter and execution. Among the celebrated works included are: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1496-98), Adam and Eve (1504), 16 works in The Passion series (1507-13), The Knight, Death and the Devil (1513) and Melancholia (1514).
For more information, visit the National Gallery of Canada's interactive website, CyberMuse, which features a video interview with exhibition curator, John Collins, analysis of some of Dürer's best known works, a behind the scene look at conserving these pricesless prints, and more.
Organized and circulated by the National Gallery of Canada
Related Programming
LECTURES
The Lure of Italy: Renaissance Ideals in the Prints of Albrecht Dürer
Dr. John Collins (Curator, Works of Renaissance Master: The Prints of Albrecht Dürer), Assistant Curator, Prints & Drawings, National Gallery of Canada
$10 / Free for AGA Members, Enterprise Square
Thursday, October 9, 7 pm
Albrecht Dürer and the Construction of the Renaissance Body
Allister Neher, Professor, Dawson College, Montreal
$10 / Free for AGA Members, Enterprise Square
October 29, 7 pm
Dürer, Romanticism and the German Nation
Adriana A. Davies, Ph.D.
$10 / Free for AGA Members, Rm #2-157, Enterprise Square
ART FOR LUNCH
Thursday, September 25, 12:10-12:50 pm
Looking at Renaissance Prints through the Art of Albrecht Dürer
with Tony Luppino, AGA Executive Director
Free admission, Enterprise Square Atrium
Thursday, October 30, 12:10-12:50 pm
Reading Symbols in Renaissance Art
with Shane Golby, AGA Education Programs Manager
Free admission, Enterprise Square Atrium
HSBC All Day Saturday
Saturday, September 6 - Celebrate Alberta Arts Day at the AGA
1-4 pm - Print Masterpieces: create your own limited edition print
2 pm - Tour of Works of Renaissance Master: The Prints of Albrecht Dürer
with Gallery Educators
Free with Gallery admission
Print Workshops & Presentations
Every Saturday until November 2, 1-4 pm
Learn the techniques of traditional woodblock printing and create your own relief print. Local artist Stacey Cann leads these print demonstrations and activities in the gallery space as part of the exhibition IMPRESSION: Prints from the AGA Collection.
Free with Gallery admission
