Exhibition Dates: 
Saturday, Jan 18, 2020 to Sunday, May 31, 2020

Several useful and highly adaptable printmaking and printing methods emerged during the early modern period, ca. 1450-1750, including moveable type, woodcut, engraving, etching, and drypoint. Beyond their technological developments, prints also reflected and responded to significant artistic, cultural, social, spiritual, and political matters of their time. This exhibition challenges us to rethink the definitions of both "Renaissance" and "print" by presenting works that demonstrate the tremendous variability of the subjects and purposes of early modern prints. These works represent the remarkable potential for multiplied images to disseminate different types of knowledge to audiences on both a local and global scale.

Collaborative Curating

The selections of artworks for this exhibition are the result of hours of deliberation and discussion. The student curators had to choose from almost two hundred prints in the Museum’s collection. To view a complete list of all the prints from ca. 1450 to 1750 in the Museum, visit our online collections portal at maacollections.missouri.edu.

Printmaking Techniques

For helpful guides about Renaissance printmaking techniques, view these pages presented by the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

Woodcut: https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/drawings-and-prints/materials-and-techniques/printmaking/woodcut

Engraving: https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/drawings-and-prints/materials-and-techniques/printmaking/engraving

Etching: https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/drawings-and-prints/materials-and-techniques/printmaking/etching

Further Reading

This Renaissance Print Bibliography PDF includes readings from Alisa McCusker’s course, The Renaissance Print, in Fall 2019.