The Memorial Art Gallery (MAG) is pleased to announce its Winter/Holiday 2022 exhibition, Renaissance Impressions: Sixteenth-Century Master Prints from the Kirk Edward Long Collection, organized by The American Federation of Arts (AFA). Exploring the emergence and transformative impact of the print medium on the visual culture of Renaissance Europe, the exhibition will be on view in the Docent Gallery
from November 14, 2021, through February 6, 2022.
“As technological innovation in the arts continues to thrive in our contemporary moment, it is fascinating to re-examine the power of printmaking during the Renaissance,” said Pauline Willis, Director and CEO of the American Federation of Arts. “The exhibition Renaissance Impressions brings some of the most exquisite examples of sixteenth-century printmaking to the public, and the AFA looks forward to sharing these selections from the Kirk Edward Long Collection with audiences.”
Renaissance Impressions, which includes 82 masterworks in varying techniques by artists as diverse as Albrecht Dürer and Hendrik Goltzius, explores the seminal role that prints played in shaping Renaissance visual culture throughout Europe. Featuring many of the era’s most extraordinary and influential prints, including examples in all graphic media from Europe’s major printmaking centers of Antwerp, Florence, Fontainebleau, Haarlem, Mantua, Paris, Prague, and Rome, the exhibition offers a rich and comprehensive survey of the first Golden Age of printmaking and reveals the vital impact of this new creative medium on art, and society.
In Rochester, works from MAG’s rich collection of Renaissance decorative arts, including armor, stained glass, ceramics, and textiles, are interspersed throughout the loan exhibition of prints. These works highlight the surprising interconnections between this new print medium and how artists in other media transmitted, transformed, and translated print imagery. This appropriation of the print medium by other artists and craftspeople created a shared visual vocabulary that crossed artistic media and geographical boundaries.
The exhibition is accompanied by a new 256-page, full-color catalogue of the same title, edited by Bernard Barryte, and published by the American Federation of Arts and Silvana Editoriale. Through absorbing thematic essays and lively entries on more than eighty prints by master printmakers including Dürer, Goltzius, Annibale Carracci, Marcantonio Raimondi, and Lucas Cranach the Elder, this lavishly illustrated catalogue explores the pivotal role that prints played in shaping visual culture throughout Europe during the Renaissance.
As a complement to Renaissance Impressions, a robust slate of programming has been created to bring the museum to life with Renaissance-themed events between the months of November 2021 and February 2022. During the run of the exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity to experience all things Renaissance through a dedicated engagement area in the museum in addition to programming including a MAG Renaissance Faire on Friday, January 14. MAG will also sponsor a monthly Renaissance Sunday, offering activities throughout different museum spaces tied to the era including music, theater reenactments, arts and crafts, and more. Visitors will also be able to enjoy lectures, exhibition tours, and themed DeTOURS through the close of the exhibition on Sunday, February 6.
Renaissance Impressions: Sixteenth-Century Master Prints from the Kirk Edward Long Collection is organized by the American Federation of Arts.
In Rochester, the Presenting Sponsor of the exhibition is The Riedman Foundation. The Supporting Sponsor is Dr. Dawn F. Lipson, with additional funding provided by Evelyn J. Garufo, Linda and Robert Fox, Marion Swett Robinson, James C. and Geraldine Biddle Moore, Natalie and J. Richard Ciccone, Carolyn B. Ettinger, Dr. Michael J. Feinstein in memory of Susan S. Feinstein, Roslyn and John Goldman, the Gouvernet Arts Fund at the Rochester Area Community Foundation, Joanna and Michael Grosodonia, Jeff Danielson, Laura and Albert Swett, Linda and David Friedman, and three anonymous donors.
The exhibition is also made possible by the Dr. Robert Lewis Berg and Florence Foster Berg Fund, the Margaret Davis Friedlich and Alan and Sylvia Davis Memorial Fund, the Robert A. and Maureen S. Dobies Endowment Fund, the Suressa H. Forbes Endowment, the Irving and Essie Germanow Fund, the Thomas and Marion Hawks Memorial Fund, the Grant Holcomb Endowment, the Kayser Fund, the Elizabeth and Eric Rennert Family Fund, the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Fund, and the Nancy R. Turner Fund for Special Exhibitions.
About the American Federation of the Arts
The American Federation of Arts is the leader in traveling exhibitions internationally. A nonprofit institution founded in 1909, the AFA is dedicated to enriching the public’s experience and understanding of the visual arts through organizing and touring art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishing scholarly exhibition catalogues, developing innovative educational programs, and fostering of a better understanding among nations through the international exchange of art.