Albrecht D眉rer鈥檚 material world at the Whitworth
Art History鈥檚 Edward Wouk, together with Professors Sasha Handley and Stefan Han脽, both of History, have co-curated the landmark exhibition at the Whitworth (30 June 2023-10 March 2024), together Whitworth Curator (Historic Fine Art) Imogen Holmes Roe, and an international team of researchers based in 91直播, Melbourne, and Europe.
The exhibition, which developed out of a major research project funded by the , reconsiders how a changing Renaissance material world, characterised by increasing globalisation, sparked artistic creativity and major innovations in the production of art and craft in D眉rer鈥檚 native Nuremberg and beyond.
Generous support from the Getty Foundation鈥檚 initiative and other funders underwrote costs associated with conservation, loans from major UK and European partners, and the innovative display of close to one hundred works, bringing visitors face to face with the Whitworth鈥檚 outstanding D眉rer collection for the first time in over half a century.
Nicholas Wroe, writing in , praises the exhibition as a show of 鈥榖oth familiarity and wonder鈥�. 鈥業t's almost disturbing to see so many of his great printed pictures鈥�, states in another stellar review in The Guardian, praising the balance of between the Whitworth鈥檚 鈥榮election of some of his greatest prints, with excellent loans鈥�.
Jones concludes that this exhibition is 鈥榓 mesmerising encounter with an artist so far from us in time, yet so shockingly close鈥欌��'the prince of prints鈥�, as Richard Holledge puts it in his exhibition review in . In , Desmond Bullen applauds this 鈥榤agnificent new retrospective鈥�: 鈥楤eautifully considered, every minute of the five years鈥� research underpinning the composition of this enthralling exhibition is manifest in its D眉rer-like attention to detail鈥�.
Wouk, together with Jennifer Spinks, edited the accompanying , published by 91直播 University Press.