This landmark exhibition, co-organized with the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica (ING) in Rome, of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Italy, is comprised of fifty-nine rarely-exhibited engraved metal printing plates dating from the sixteenth century to the late twentieth century, culled exclusively from the collections of one of the world’s most important museums devoted to the Graphic Arts. Drawing and its Double includes significant and iconic works by influential artists and engravers such as Giorgio Ghisi (1520–1582), Lafrery Du Perac (1512–1577), Salvator Rosa (1615–1673), Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), Antonio Canova (1757–1822), Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964), Piero Dorazio (1927–2005), and Achille Perilli (b. 1927). This exhibition presents the plates as primary art objects without preparatory drawings or the resultant prints. Historical and modern plates from the archive are presented in The Drawing Center’s Main Gallery. The Drawing Room features Decalogo by Paolo Canevari, a new body of work which was created during the artist’s 2008 residency at the ING. Established in 1975, the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica is the result of a merger between the Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe and the Calcografia Nazionale. Housed in a monumental complex at Palazzo Poli near the Trevi Fountain in Rome, ING’s vast collection is comprised of 23,400 printing plates, 25,000 drawings, more than 152,000 prints, 16,000 photographs, and 25,000 books. Since its inception, ING has been instrumental in promoting the systematic study of printing plates as unique art works, and is dedicated to promoting the study and conservation of historical printmaking techniques.
Image: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Piazza di Monte Cavallo, c. 1748. Etching on copper retouched with Burin, 15 1/2 x 21 3/4 inches (394 x 555 mm) (recto). Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome. VIC 1400/708.
Co-curated by ING curators Ginevra Mariani and Antonella Renzitti, and Brett Littman, Executive Director of The Drawing Center