This past weekend July 25, 2009 our very own Michael Schwartz lectured on "The Origins of Rembrandt's Etchings" at the Bowers Museum. (Michael Schwartz, Galerie Michael, discusses Rembrandt’s creative genius using the medium of etching as a major liberation of 17th century art. He will also examine the history of etching and how it replaced engraving.)John Villarino's (a close friend of Galerie Michael) extensive Rembrandt Collection is currently on exhibition at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana:
Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt's Etchings
July 11 - August 23, 2009
Featuring 35 rare etchings by Rembrandt Van Rijn made between 1629 and 1654, Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt?s Etchings focuses on a subject the artist frequented in his formative years: the beggar. Rembrandt's images document and humanize the vagrant population living in 17th century Dutch society that considered these individuals repulsive and outcast. Often using biblical subjects and narratives, Rembrandt draws parallels in many of the etchings between the plight of the homeless and derelict, and figures such as Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Each etching on paper executed in a style closer to drawing than engraving portrays individualism, character and emotion of each figure rendered, beckoning the viewer's empathy and compassion.
1 comment:
I agree that the beggars and the derelicts in Rembrandt's works beckons the viewer to empathize with them. Each individual piece is amazing, but I feel that the compassion is most strongly felt when collections of Rembrandt's etchings are viewed together. It's as if there is a story that ties them all together.
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