The Allure of Paper: Drawings and Watercolors from the Collection

A watercolor of a freight ship deck made with precise lines and geometric shapes in whites, browns, grays, and blues.
July 9–October 9, 2011
Second floor

Organized in celebration of the Carter’s 50th Anniversary, this special exhibition showcased more than 100 drawings and watercolors from the museum’s holdings. These one-of-a-kind works of art range in date from the early 19th century to the late 20th century and chronicle the sweeping changes that occurred in American art over the course of nearly 200 years. From portraiture and history painting to early modernism and abstraction, these objects represent the finest from the museum’s works-on-paper holdings. Artists represented in the exhibition included Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Georgia O’Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, Ben Shahn, and Joseph Stella. Highly sensitive to light, these objects are infrequently shown, and they have never before been exhibited together. An exhibition catalogue is available as well, making the works accessible long after they have returned to the vaults.

Edmund Lewandowski

Lake Freighter, 1948

Opaque watercolor over graphite on paper

1985.4

A watercolor of a freight ship deck made with precise lines and geometric shapes in whites, browns, grays, and blues.

Georgia O'Keeffe

Light Coming on the Plains No. I, 1917

Watercolor on newsprint paper

1966.30

A watercolor painting of concentric arches in shades of blue.

John La Farge

Still Life of Petunias in a Glass Vase, 1884

Pastel on paper

1988.20

Carl Holty

Untitled, 1939

Watercolor over graphite on paper

2008.2

Winslow Homer

Blyth Sands, 1882

Graphite, opaque watercolor, ink, chalk, and charcoal on paper

1982.58

A drawing of two women, arms wrapped across each other, walking along a beach as white surf rolls in toward them.

Robert Pearson McChesney

Variations, 1946

Transparent and opaque watercolor and ink over graphite on paper

2005.19

Edward Everett

Ruins of the Church of the Alamo, San Antonio de Béxar, 1847

Watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper

1977.7

A mixed-media watercolor of a Spanish Colonial-style church in ruins.

Jimmy Ernst

Untitled, 1951

Opaque water-based pigment, transparent watercolor, and ink on paper

2008.31

Hans Hofmann

Untitled, 1943

Tempera, transparent watercolor, crayon, and ink on paper

2008.48

An abstract watercolor of an ocean, beach, and houses in bright blue and yellow.

Installation Photos

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All Exhibitions

The exhibition is sponsored by Frost.