Images: Hendrik Goudt's “Ceres Seeking her Daughter,” Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s "Kopf Ludwig Schames" (Head of Ludwig Schames), and Camille Pissarro’s “The Woods at L’Hermitage, Pontoise"
Rima Girnius, the Museum of Art and Archaeology's curator of European and American art, studies the intricate details of a new acquisition.
Acquisitions expand creative research collection for campus and community
European prints acquired by Mizzou’s Museum of Art and Archaeology are expanding research opportunities for scholars and providing insight into the evolution of art.
Rima Girnius, the museum’s curator of European and American art, has closely followed art sales and auctions since her arrival at Mizzou. Girnius, who has a doctorate in history of art, helps oversee the museum’s collection, organizing exhibits, assisting with educational programs, and adding new objects.
“Thanks to acquisition endowments established by generous benefactors, we are broadening and deepening the museum's holdings of European and American art,” said Girnius, who discovered the prints during a Christie’s auction.
Girnius determined several areas of focus for new acquisitions based on historical significance, scholarly expertise, and what the additions would bring to the museum’s collection.
“All three acquisitions represent historically significant and visually striking works of art that provide opportunities for teaching and learning.”
The new acquisitions
“Ceres Seeking her Daughter"
Hendrik Goudt’s “Ceres Seeking her Daughter,” is based on his contemporary Adam Elsheimer’s “Ceres in the House of Hecuba.” To translate Elsheimer’s copperplate painting into print, Goudt cut grooves into copper, each intentional valley and ridge creating rich contrasts of light and shade. The similarities between the two works are striking. Goudt’s mastery in capturing light, shadow, and texture inspired the subsequent generation of printmakers such as Rembrandt van Rijn.
“The Woods at L’Hermitage, Pontoise"
Camille Pissarro, a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter, specialized in painting landscapes and rural scenes. Pissarro reworked his copper plate six times to arrive at the tone and feel of “The Woods at L’Hermitage, Pontoise,” one of his best-known prints portraying a complex interplay of light and texture.
"Kopf Ludwig Schames" (Head of Ludwig Schames)
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner carved hundreds of juxtaposed lines in wood to capture a Frankfort art dealer's personality in his “Kopf Ludwig Schames.” Kirchner’s print is considered one of the most important portraits in 20th century graphic art. The artist was a member of Die Brücke (The Bridge), a group credited with the birth of German Expressionism in 1905.
These prints are the museum’s most recent acquisitions. The prints were acquired with funds from an endowment established in 1984 by donor Olive Gilbreath McLorn, a native of LaPlata, Mo., who also bequeathed a collection of Asian artifacts to the museum.
The Museum of Art and Archaeology is planning an exhibition featuring the three prints.