Fogg Spotlights Elegant Dutch Drawings

Seventeenth Century Dutch Drawings: A Selection from the Maida and George Abrams Collection

at the Fogg Art Museum

through December 6

The Fogg's 17th Century Dutch Drawings is an exhibit that warrants close examination. The fact that the works are small and delicate is both an asset and a drawback: the drawings' tiny details are intricate; yet on a busy day at the museum, viewers may not be able to get close enough to the works to appreciate them.

George and Maida Abrams, the owners of the pieces in the show, have spent years amassing a large collection of drawings. The exhibit includes works by de Gheyn, van Ostade and Rembrandt and his pupils, among others. These drawings were valued in 17th century Holland as independent works; in other countries, such pieces were merely preliminary sketches for paintings.

The exhibit showcases different subjects, including landscapes, portraits of peasants and nature studies. Common to most of the pieces are sharp pen and ink lines and warm, subtle washes of color. One example of a landscape work is "A Dilapidated Farmhouse" by Abraham Bloemaert. The small ink lines are used sparingly, yet convey great detail--a few quick lines on a wall suggest hundreds of bricks. The warm color is built up with washes of brown and gray with pink highlights. Like the other pieces in the show, this work shows an intimate scene that gives the viewer a glimpse of the day to day life of this era.

The work of Rembrandt and his contemporaries and pupils makes up a substantial part of the Abrams' collection. An exhibition tag written by the Curator of Drawings William W. Robinson says that in the 1630s, Rembrandt developed his technique by creating hundreds of studies and drawings. His style juxtaposes "summarily indicated areas" in the subject's body with "intricately detailed penwork" that creates an expressive face. Rembrandt's pupils Doomer, Backer and Flinck reflected their mentor's style in their work. The exhibit contains six similar works by these artists--sketchy yet expressive chalk figure drawings on blue paper.

The last room of the exhibit holds studies of birds, flowers and insects. These works show incredible accuracy--from a few steps back, Pieter Withoos' drawing of butterflies looked like a composition of actual insects. These works differ greatly from the landscapes or portraits; the nature studies are crisp, bright and very life-like as opposed to the subtle sketchiness of the other works. However, the combination of the different types of drawings makes this show an interesting showcase of Dutch work.

The Abrams' comprehensive collection of Dutch drawings is a true asset to the art world--this exhibit traveled to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam before it came to the U.S. The works in "Seventeenth Century Dutch Drawings" create a sense of intimacy that makes this exhibit a true delight.