EXHIBITIONS
Gulliver among the Brobdingnagians / Paul Gavarni / ca. 1863
Checkmate! Medieval People at Play
Great Illustrations: Drawings and Books from the Walters’ Collection
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Couple Playing Backgammon / Book of Hours / ca. 1460
JULY 17–OCTOBER 10
e are all familiar with praying monks, but playing monks? A Book of Hours from Flanders finds them deep in a game of “Blind Man’s Bluff,” while on the opposite page peasant boys enjoy a rigorous game of hockey. Such delightful images of play are unexpectedly ubiquitous in medieval manuscripts. Neither stodgy nor perpetually pious, medieval people found time for amusement in the margins of their lives and their manuscripts. Surprisingly, playful images are most often found in religious books, where artists populated the margins with humorous, even outrageous imagery.
JULY 31–OCTOBER 10
hrough a selection of drawings and books, this exhibition explores the variety of ways in which 19th-century artists approached the idea of illustration. It features seldom-seen works from the permanent collection, including drawings for Gustave Doré’s Holy Bible (1866) and Paul Gavarni’s lively sketches of the London underworld. French, American and British artists’ responses to the works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Jonathan Swift join the volumes in which they were published.
This exhibition looks at many different aspects of medieval play, including board games, sports, free play, visual ciphers and even games of love. Drawn entirely from the Walters’ own stellar collection, the exhibition features 26 manuscripts, original medieval game pieces and a 13th-century toy soldier. In the pages of these books, knights battle with dice instead of swords, children shirk their winter duties to lob snowballs at each other, and lovers nonchalantly play footsies during their backgammon game. Through these images, this exhibition encourages visitors of all ages to explore a sense of whimsy and fun that is uniquely medieval, yet remarkably relevant to us today.
With the birth of lithography and the widespread use of steel and wood engraving, the 19th century saw an explosion in the art of illustration. Illustrated newspapers, magazines and literature, aimed at both adults and children, became more widely available than ever before. For the first time the very latest images by the most fashionable artists could be owned and enjoyed by people at all levels of society. This mass circulation of images also encouraged collectors to place new value on exceptional and personal expressions, seeking out illustrated autographs and assembling albums of sketches. The 15 works in this exhibition reveal both the popular art of published illustrations and the unique images sought by collectors, which brought literature and images together in fresh and illuminating ways.
lynley herbert, carol bates pre-doctoral fellow
alicia weisberg-roberts, assistant curator, 18th- and 19th- century art
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