home>exhibitions>Rembrandt's Etchings Search the Collection

Rembrandt’s Etchings: The Embrace of Darkness and Light

May 16, 2008-August 17, 2008

Join the Chrysler Museum of Art as we celebrate the life and legacy of legendary Dutch painter and etcher, Rembrandt van Rijn in the upcoming exhibition Rembrandt’s Etchings: The Embrace of Darkness and Light, opening Thursday, May 15 at 10 a.m. This extensive collection of Rembrandt’s etchings, drawn from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is one of the finest collections of its kind in the United States, including 130 of Rembrandt’s most celebrated prints.

Rembrandt’s Etchings: The Embrace of Darkness and Light traces Rembrandt’s entire career as a printmaker from the drama and technical razzle-dazzle of his early productions to the quiet mystery and poetry of his final works. It demonstrates how Rembrandt cleverly captured life during 17th century on these small, etched copper plates, two of which will also be on display.

This tedious process of etching is similar to creating a drawing, but instead of using paper and a writing tool, artists used a pointed etching needle to scratch images onto a resin-coated plate, usually made of copper, steel or zinc. The plate is then dipped in a bath of acid that “bites” into the exposed parts of the metal, leaving behind lines or grooves sunk into the plate. The remaining waxy covering is cleaned off of the metal with a chemical solution, and finally the plate is inked, placed on a printing press, and stamped on a sheet of paper to produce a unique print.

Unlike many artists before him, Rembrandt recognized that this particular art responds best to a lighter touch, and he used the etching needle much like a paintbrush to create his masterpieces. He achieved the same mastery of light and atmosphere in his etchings as he did in his paintings, the same baroque richness of detail and texture—the look and feel of velvet, hair, and fur—the same depth of feeling, the evocation of color in shifting dark and light.

In addition to Rembrandt’s unparalleled genius for technical achievement and psychological insight, he also had an innate understanding of the human condition. This skill is demonstrated through the etchings in this exhibition which includes landscapes, portraits, historic depictions from the Bible, mythology, and ancient history.

As a young man, he frequently made etchings and drawings of people he encountered in daily life including The Artist’s Mother ,where he uses fine lines and flicks to map his mother’s aging flesh; Beggar Leaning on a Stick, which is a part of a series of drawings based on abject social outcasts; and Saskia, his beloved wife who was his favorite and most frequent model before her death in 1642.

Rembrandt’s Etchings: The Embrace of Darkness and Light will be on view until August 17, 2008.

In conjunction with Rembrandt’s Etchings: The Embrace of Darkness and Light, the Chrysler will also unveil a complementary exhibition including prints from the early 20th century, Prints from the David and Susan Goode Collection on the same day.

This exhibition, which will be available for public viewing in the Museum’s Prints and Drawings Gallery, features notable artists such as Betty Waldo Parish, David Hockney, and Andy Warhol who all demonstrate a wide variety of printmaking techniques including lithography and screenprint.

Prints from the David and Susan Goode Collection will be open to the public May 16th–August 31, 2008.

For general information, please call (757) 664-6200. For media information, please contact the Public Relations Department at (757) 333-6295 or publicrelations@chrysler.org.