Hans Hoffmann (1540/50–1591/92)
An Affenpinscher, 1580
Watercolor and gouache on vellum
10 x 14 1/4 inches (25.5 x 36 cm)
Kasper Collection
William Eggleston (b. 1939)
Stage 14, Parking Lot, Hollywood, 1999–2000
Iris print
24 x 30 inches (61 x 76.2 cm)
Kasper Collection
© Eggleston Artistic Trust
Courtesy Cheim & Read, New York
Mannerism and Modernism: The Kasper Collection of Drawings and Photographs The Morgan Library & Museum offers a rare opportunity to see an extraordinary group of drawings andphotographs. ‘Mannerism and Modernism: The Kasper Collection of Drawings and Photographs’
January 21, 2011 – May 1, 2011
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Source: The Morgan Library & Museum
The exhibition features over one hundred works, including old master drawings, modern and contemporary works on paper, and photography. The unusual, tripartite nature of the Kasper Collection is a testament to both Kasper’s personal taste and his desire to build a trulyunique collection.
A particular focus of Kasper’s activity as a collector hasbeen sixteenth-century European art, notably drawings bymasters associated with Mannerism—a style distinguishedby its emphasis upon elegance, artifice, and sophistication.Dubbed the “stylish style” by art historian John Shearman, Mannerism broke with the classical restraint ofthe preceding Renaissance period and is represented in the exhibition by important works created by GiulioRomano, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Parmigianino, Peter Candid, Hendrick Goltzius, and Giorgio Vasari,among others. The earliest drawing on view, Fra Bartolommeo’s Figures Fighting (Study for The Rape ofDinah?), marks the end of the High Renaissance and reveals the artist’s pursuit of a dynamic compositionpopulated with classically proportioned figures. Paolo Veronese’s arresting pen and ink studies for TheConsecration of David exemplify the energetic line and complex poses associated with the Mannerist style.The exhibition also features three exceptionally fine sheets by Perino del Vaga and two by his youngerRoman contemporary Taddeo Zuccaro.
Well represented are Northern artists such as Maarten van Heemskerck; his Susanna and Her Relatives Praisingthe Lord reveals the influence of Italian art in the sculptural treatment of the figures and classical inspiration ofthe buildings. In Hans Hoffmann’s charming An Affenpinscher, the artist employs watercolor and gouache ina manner reminscent of Albrecht Dürer.
Equally impressive are Kasper’s holdings of modern and contemporarydrawings. This part of the collection features important Cubist worksby Pablo Picasso and Juan Gris. Picasso’s Glass and Bass Bottle on a Table,for instance, combines different viewpoints and collaged materials tochallenge “the reality in nature.” Juan Gris’s The Coffee Grinderdestabilizes the genre of still-life by transforming household items intogeometric abstractions. Also on view are significant works by HenriMatisse, Jean Dubuffet, Cy Twombly, Ed Ruscha, Richard Serra, andAnselm Kiefer.
Photographs constitute the most diverse portion of Kasper’s collection,with excellent prints by major historical figures, in addition tonumerous works by emerging artists. The photographs span the earlytwentieth century to the present, chronicling the evolution of the medium through works by ConstantinBrancusi, Hilla and Bernd Becher, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jenny Holzer, and Vik Muniz. Man Ray’s MaxErnst Sand Painting records the appearance of a drawing of a female figure incised in the sand by thephotographer’s longtime friend and fellow Surrealist Max Ernst. Brassaï’s The Imp, Belleville, Paris (from theGraffiti series) belongs to the genre of street photography, also well represented in the exhibition. Amongseveral images by Hiroshi Sugimoto is one of his iconic, long-exposure photographs of opulent moviehouses, Beacon Theatre, New York. Kasper has considerable depth in the work of a number of artists,including the innovative contemporary photographer Adam Fuss (b. 1961),whose hauntingly beautifulimages include a photogram of the entrails of a rabbit from the series Details of Love and a monumentalphotograph of the chrysalis of a butterfly, Untitled, of 2003.
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