The Darker Side of Light: Arts of Privacy - 1850-1900 March 17, 2010

Paris in the 1800s was the city of light, and Impressionism captured the bustle of its lively streets and cafes. But through the medium of prints, artists like Whistler, Zorn, Meryon and others probed the social and psychological depths of the period. The inherently discrete method of storing prints between the covers of portfolios--which were then typically kept in the privacy of a study room or cabinet--freed artists to explore subject matter that ranged from the prurient to the exotic. While unsuitable for more public display, such prints were avidly collected. Organized by the National Gallery of Art, this exhibition presents over one hundred of these beautiful, often startling works--primarily prints, but also illustrated books, drawings, and small sculptures--within the milieu of a nineteenth-century art collector's study. In this intimate setting, 'The Darker Side of Light' evokes the shadowed interiors and private introspections that tell a far less familiar story of late nineteenth-century art.