ON PAPER: MASTERWORKS FROM THE ADDISON COLLECTION
February 1-April 6, 2003

On Paper presents a selection of masterworks on paper from the collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art. While the Addison's renowned painting collection has long been appreciated by visitors and scholars across the country, its works on paper have received only fragmentary attention. This stellar part of the collection, conceived as an integral part of the museum's holdings from its inception in 1931, has never before been exhibited or published as a distinct and coordinated group.

This exhibition of approximately 100 works on paper represents a full chronological span, ranging from an intimate 1774-75 chalk study drawing by John Singleton Copley to a large-scale watercolor created in 2002 by Jason Middlebrook. The exhibition also represents a full range of media, from ink to watercolor, from pencil to charcoal and pastel, from metalpoint to collage and mixed media, on an equally wide range of paper supports.

In recognition of the Addison Gallery's educational mission, the exhibition is organized into four broad categories that explore the purposes and artistic intentions of a work on paper. While some works do not lend themselves to strict categorization, these propositions are offered as ways of seeing and appreciating what a work on paper can be:

The work as record: illustrating the work as a record of place or event, as a medium for gathering information, or as a commitment of an experience to memory

The work as study: illustrating the ways in which artists use the work on paper as a tool for developing ideas, making studies, and trying out compositions

John Singleton Copley, Study for Saul Reproved by Samuel for Not Obeying the Commandments of the Lord, 1798, graphite and chalk, 13 x 11 in.