September 6, 2008 – May 3, 2009

Celebrating the opening of the new Works on Paper Gallery, this exhibition features works from the Museum’s recently acquired collection of photographs that elegantly represent the history of photography in the 20th century. Iconic images by Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, Walker Evans, Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, Margaret Bourke-White and others will be on display. Many of these are vintage prints (made by the photographer very close to the time the negative was made) or late prints (made by the photographer or assistant years later).

Rachael Arauz, Ph.D., independent curator for this exhibition, said, “This carefully chosen collection features an impressive range of images from some of the most important artists in the history of the medium, and is a monumental addition to the Reading Public Museum’s significant holdings in 20th-century art.”

The Works on Paper Gallery, made possible in part through a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, will showcase the Museum’s exquisite collection of fine art prints, sketches, etchings and watercolors, featuring 14,000 works spanning five centuries of American and European art history. World-class artists such as Pablo Picasso, John James Audubon, Albrecht Dürer, Edgar Degas, Rembrandt van Rijn, Salvador Dali, Andrew Wyeth, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Diego Rivera and others will be featured in the gallery through future exhibitions.

Ronald C. Roth, Director and CEO of Reading Public Museum, said, “The Museum’s collection of fine art works on paper is one of the largest public art collections in the Commonwealth. The Works on Paper Gallery will provide visitors and students alike with access to the great works in these collections, many of which have never before been exhibited.”

Click here to listen to/download an interview with Dr. Arauz. (mp3 file – 56.2 MB)

The Reading Public Museum is supported in part by grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.

Images, top to bottom: Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California, 1936, photogravure, Edition #36/300, Published by Aperture under the auspices of the Dorothea Lange Collection at the Oakland Museum; Yousuf Karsh, Pablo Casals, 1954, gelatin silver print

For a PDF file of the press release, click here.