Serial Thrillers: Chrysler Museum of Art Exhibition

Serial Thrillers

October 1, 2015 — January 10, 2016

"The Lure of Old Master Print Series. Serial Thrillers highlights nine Old Master print sets, encompassing stories drawn from the Old Testament, Louis XV’s Versailles, and the storm-tossed voyages of Dutch sailing ships.

The exhibition honors Chief Curator Jeff Harrison, who recently retired after 33 years at the Chrysler. On his next-to-last day, he explained the rationale behind the exhibit this way: “From the beginning of my career at the Chrysler, I have looked to add Old Master prints—woodcuts, engravings, and etchings produced between the 15th and 18th centuries—to our European collection."

“Our great benefactor Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. was a brilliant collector of European painting and sculpture, but prints were of lesser importance to him.

They struck me, however, as an inspired and far less costly way to expand the imagery and themes of those other art forms.

“I have had the good luck to add important single print images to our collection, among them Albrecht Durer’s magisterial 1498 engraving ofThe Virgin and Child with the Monkey. But I have been more intrigued by print sets—multi-sheet series that, by virtue of their multiple parts, offer richer narrative possibilities and broader, more complex visions of time, movement, and space.

“Consider Andrea Andreani’s masterful nine-part woodcut series, The Triumph of Julius Caesar, in which a grand Roman imperial procession unfolds before the viewer as she walks along it from left and right. Or Durer’s Large Woodcut Passion, in which one of the central narratives of the Christian faith—the final sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ—is fully and richly recounted in a succession of 12 incomparable prints.”

Andrea Andreani

after Andrea Mantegna

The Triumph of Julius Caesar 1 & 2

Ludolph Bakhuizen

Series of Ten Seascapes

Albrecht Dürer

The Virgin and Child with the Monkey

ca. 1498

The Last Supper

Christ on the Mount of Olives

The Betrayal of Christ

Ecce Homo

Christ in Limbo

The Flagellation

Northern artists around 1500 had a fondness for the grotesque, particularly as a metaphor for evil. This indigenous fascination with ugliness found full expression in Christ's enemies. Albrecht Dürer's woodcut is a masterful display of jeering, scowling derision. He likened the mob to animals, as indicated by the men on the ground, one of whom is posed like the mangy dog. The Passion tracts concocted many tales around the theme of hair-pulling, a detail Dürer could not resist. - MIA

The Man of Sorrows Mocked by a Soldier

The Bearing of the Cross

This print is one of a set of 12 woodcuts that tell the story of the Crucifixion and Passion of Christ. The German painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer transformed the narrative and expressive potential of printmaking. His 'Large Passion' series is a vivid and animated rendering of the gospel story.

On his way to execution, Christ turns to St Veronica who offers him her veil to wipe the blood and sweat from his face. It is a brief moment as Christ is propelled forward by the procession. The crowd is composed of soldiers, henchmen, officials and Christ’s followers. His mother Mary and St John are seen on the left.

- Via Victoria & Albert

The Crucifixion

As Christ dies, his mother Mary is sunk in grief at the foot of the cross. Dürer contrasts the pain felt by Christ’s followers with the indifference of the mounted soldier on the right. Three angels capture Christ’s blood in cups, drawing attention to his wounds and bodily suffering.

- Via Victoria & Albert