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ART IN REVIEW
ART IN REVIEW; 'Fine Prints From Six Centuries:Mantegna to Matisse'By GRACE GLUECKPublished: December 19, 2003
David Tunick
46 East 65th Street, Manhattan
Through Jan. 31
This splendid anthology of some 125 old master and modern prints,dating from around 1465 to 1947, has prizes not easily seenelsewhere. One is Albrecht Dürer's small but richly engraved''Nativity'' (1504), setting the scene of Jesus' birth on the porch of adilapidated house remarkable for its architectural presence, variety oftextures and the distant perspective seen through an arch in thecourtyard.
Another is an etching by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, ''The Rabbit Hunters'' (circa 1560), themaster's only known print. Depicting two hunters (one seems to be stalking the other) in abroad valley, it seems to refer to certain proverbs, one of them being ''A hare yourself, youhunt for prey.'' A group of Rembrandt etchings and drypoints includes his visionary''Three Crosses'' (1653), a superb early fourth-state impression in which the artistdramatically reinterpreted his original concept, among other things slashing lines at theplate's lower center to indicate the shaking of the earth in horror.
''Entombment With Four Birds,'' a stunning engraving (circa 1465) uncertainly attributedto Andrea Mantegna, depicts the burial of Jesus in a rocky cave by haloed disciples. Fourbirds hover nearby over three crosses. Whether the print was made by the importantNorthern Italian Renaissance artist or by others after his design is in question, but it is apowerful tableau that brings an operatic grandeur to its subject.
A sly, erotic engraving, ''The Archer and the Milkmaid'' (circa 1610), thought to be by theDutch Mannerist Jacob de Gheyn II, adds lusty humor to this show. An archer points acrossbow directly at the viewer as a milkmaid, wearing his hat, snuggles up to him frombehind. His sexual arousal is apparent, and a distant couple in a field can be seenindulging in an amorous encounter.
A smaller selection of modern prints has its share of knockouts, with the pièce derésistance being ''La Promenade'' (1895), a wonderful four-panel folding screen by PierreBonnard with a scene of the Place de la Concorde sparely lithographed in bold, flat areas ofcolor. Based on a painting Bonnard made earlier, the design floats airily across the panelsin Japanese style.
Other goodies in this section include drypoints by Max Beckmann from his 10-part series''The Annual New Year's Fair,'' a circus environment symbolizing the chaos of modernsociety; ''Man on an Empty Plain'' (1917), a somberly expressive woodcut of a lone,
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5/28/2015 ART IN REVIEW - 'Fine Prints From Six Centuries - Mantegna to Matisse' - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/19/arts/art-in-review-fine-prints-from-six-centuries-mantegna-to-matisse.html 2/2
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anguished figure by Erich Heckel; and a fine, lighthearted Cubist etching, ''Le Café du
Commerce'' (1913) by Jean-Émile Laboureur, a prolific engraver of the period, in which he
presents himself disguised as Toulouse-Lautrec. But this is only to hint at the feast to be
found here. Partake with pleasure. GRACE GLUECK
Photo: ''The Rabbit Hunters,'' an etching by Pieter Bruegel the Elder dating from about
1560, in ''Fine Prints From Six Centuries: Mantegna to Matisse'' at David Tunick on East
65th Street. (Photo by David Tunick Inc.)
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