Prized for its ability to create velvety, dark, and subtle surfaces, mezzotint is a printmaking process in which the artist works from dark to light, coaxing the image from the shadows. For centuries, it was primarily used to make reproductions of paintings. In the 20th and 21st centuries, however, mezzotint has become a medium of unique creative expression and technical experimentation, often incorporating color.
Prints of Darkness explores modern and contemporary mezzotints from Eastern and Western Europe, North America, and East Asia in subjects including still life, fantasy, and landscape. Drawn exclusively from the Museum collection, Prints of Darkness features numerous recent acquisitions on view for the first time. The show highlights work by the modern mezzotint revivalists Mario Avati and Hamaguchi Yōzō as well as contemporary practitioners including Hamanishi Katsunori, Judith Rothchild, and Carol Wax.
Curated by Mary Weaver Chapin, Ph.D., Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, and Jeannie Kenmotsu, Ph.D., The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Asian Art.
