Embodied Seeing: Modernist Works on Paper

It is the special character of works on paper that they are scaled to the human body. Whether it is a woodcut, lithograph, drawing or printed book, these media are oriented toward the body in a way that diverges from painting, sculpture and cinema. The books and works of art in this exhibit carry senses of intimacy and tactility that are related to the hand and to the seated body. These works, however, are not meant to be viewed or read in traditional ways. They at once solicit many of the feelings associated with the intimacy of reading but ultimately frustrate any effort to approach them as texts to be read or stories to be told. Rather, viewers look at these works, see them and respond to them as visual phenomena of a highly sophisticated order.