Art Museum Exhibit: “On Paper: Media and Techniques”
Written by Kaylee Zukowski
This article was written during the Fall 2024 semester.
While I did not go to the museum myself, I am thankful that my wonderful newspaper comrade was able to take many pictures so that we can discuss some of the images. When I was viewing all of the artists and the amazing pieces they presented, I noticed that almost all of them were in darker shades. They also seemed to be of organic shapes yet so detailed that you can see every line or wrinkle in the image that they are depicting. For example, Martin Schongauer’s take on “Saint Michael” was so detailed that you could see each of the wrinkles in the archangel’s robe as well as each individual feather of their wings. Even the devil, who Michael is displayed spearing, is extremely detailed and precise, which we can see in the face. While I am not one for religious depictions, I found this image very interesting and it reminded me of the old medieval drawings that they used to do where the death of someone was very detailed. Considering this, I took a look at the dates that the pieces were created and it seems that many of them were created in the 1400- 1500’s. Since I was curious to what was happening during this time, I did a brief search on the internet and found out that this was the era in which the Renaissance was, which made sense as to why the overall style of the images in the Art Museum gave me that impression.
The image was supposedly an engraving as well, which makes it all the more interesting because I would imagine it takes incredible skill to create an engraving to depict an image like this. I remember when I was trying to engrave images in wood it was very difficult, and it took a very steady hand. If you messed one thing up, it could ruin the image. If this was an engraving that was made in order to create a stamp or printing, that is even more interesting!
I would have to say that my favorite image of the engraving franchise was Albrecht Durer’s “Saint Jerome in His Study” due to the perspective and the two animals at the lower portion of the image. To me the two animals look like a chihuahua and a lion that is in this person’s home, however, in reality it may be a cat and a large dog. Art is often abstract and leaves the audience trying to determine the meaning behind the piece, which is what I enjoy about these museum exhibits. Every person has a different take on what the artist may have tried to depict in their images, which makes it all the more valuable.
In this image of Saint Jerome, we see that he is toward the horizon of the image and he is working on something on his desk. Something else that caught my eye in this piece was the skull that is to the left of the image, as it is very out of place amongst the normalities of the rest of the room (besides the animals). The way that this image is so detailed that each texture is different and you could see the place where the light is illuminating from is fascinating. I wish that more people attended exhibits like this and took advantage of the museum because all of the pieces are so interesting to look at. I have always wished that I could draw realistically, however, everyone has a different style to their art. While mine is more like anime, someone else’s may be realistic, and another individual’s art could be entirely abstract.
Photographs of artwork by Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Durer’s by Kaylee Zukoswki
