WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of its Manton Research Center, the Clark Art Institute presents a varied selection of British works on paper acquired over the last fifty years. 

 

"50 Years and Forward: British Prints and Drawings Acquisitions" opens on Nov. 18, 2023 and is on view through Feb. 11, 2024 in the Eugene V. Thaw Gallery, located in the Manton Research Center.

 

"The Manton Research Center is the home of our works on paper collection and its fiftieth anniversary commemoration provides us with a wonderful opportunity to showcase the exceptional British prints and drawings that are a part of this collection," said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark. "We are indebted to the Manton Foundation for the exceptional generosity of the gift they presented to us in 2007 that greatly enhanced our British holdings, endowed a gallery dedicated to British art, and created our Works on Paper Study Center."

 

"As a complement to the British paintings that are always on view in the Manton Gallery, it is very special to be able to exhibit such a wide selection of our British works on paper," said Anne Leonard, Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. "The collection assembled by Sir Edwin and Lady Manton, and given to the museum in 2007, at one stroke established the Clark as a necessary stop for anyone interested in British art. The range and quality of the Manton drawings and prints have set a high bar for the acquisitions we continue to make in this area, and it is wonderfully exciting to be able to share many of these works for the first time."

 

A companion exhibition, 50 Years and Forward: Works on Paper Acquisitions, opens December 16, 2023 in the Clark Center with a wide selection of prints, drawings, and photographs acquired between 1973 and 2023. Along with familiar works by Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528), Francisco Goya (Spanish, 1746–1828), Édouard Manet (French, 1832–1883), and Mary Cassatt (American (Active in France), 1844–1926), the exhibition highlights lesser-known parts of the collection, including early twentieth-century art, photographs by Berenice Abbott (American, 1898–1991) and Doris Ulmann (American, 1882–1934), and important images of and by Black Americans.