Paper Trail: American Prints, Drawings, and Watercolors
September 29, 2018 through
January 27, 2019
pa·per trail (noun): a series of documents providing written evidence of a sequence of events or the activities of a person or organization
Within the Florence Griswold Museum’s collection works on paper represent a key component of the institution’s “founding documents.” During the Lyme Art Colony’s heyday artists gathered around Florence Griswold’s parlor table to make drawings—playing the “Wiggle Game”—an amusement where one artist was challenged to finish a drawing of disparate lines begun by another. From that kernel of works the collection has grown in scope to include Connecticut artists using ink, graphite, watercolor, and pastel on paper from Colonial times to the present.
This exhibition followed the “paper trail” of acquisitions and gifts made to the Museum over its long history to examine how artists’ approaches to process, including drawing, etching, painting, and lithography, connect and speak to each other over time. In addition to showcasing artists at the Lyme Art Colony, collection highlights included works on paper by Anni and Joseph Albers, Fidelia Bridges, James Daugherty, Sol LeWitt, James Martin, Thomas Nason, and Mary Way.
Gabor Peterdi, Red Red Eclipse, 1967. Color etching and aquatint on paper, 17 5/8 x 23 5/8 inches. Florence Griswold Museum, Gift of Charles T. Clark
Robert Vonnoh, Self-Portrait, 1884. Charcoal on paper, 21 ½ x 15 inches. Florence Griswold Museum, Purchase, Dorothy Clark Archibald Acquisition Fund
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