Rembrandt used his craft to explore the human experience, weaving together comedy, tragedy and history measured in Shakespearean proportions. His use of mood and tone, focusing on himself and the world around him, has created a body of work that invites the viewer to dissect the man behind the art. His subjects are not idealized his female nudes are lumpy, his beloved wife is plain-looking and his self-portraits, while fanciful and inventive, show the same man, with the same bulbous nose, behind various costumes and finery. Rembrandt shows us who he is when he is young, when he is old and most directly, it seems, when he is playing: his series of self-portraits (1630) allow his various exaggerated emotions to come alive in paint.
The humanity of nature and the nature of humanity flourish across all of Rembrandt’s various mediums. Rembrandt’s Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher at the Museum of Fine Arts, highlights the artist’s work as an etcher and printmaker from 1626 to 1661 within the context of his more widely recognized paintings and drawings. The 20 paintings, 35 drawings and roughly 150 etchings and six original copper etching plates on display now through Jan. 18, 2004 at the MFA’s Gund Gallery represent a journey as applied to Rembrandt’s art.
The paintings, many of which have never been seen together before, are not arranged chronologically, as one might expect. Themes (and how Rembrant’s visual representations of those themes changed over time) are given greater weight. Portraiture, biblical narratives (heavily represented in this exhibition), landscape, urban life, the nude, animals and family portraits are each shown separately, mounted on walls painted cornflower blue and royal purple. The choice of these cool tones seems odd at first, given the warm feeling emitted from the smoky drawings and rosy, flushed flesh of the portraits. The colors seem to have been chosen to correspond with the black, white and gray tones of the etchings, which are given center stage.
Rembrandt’s deep commitment to creative and expressive printmaking set him apart from other 17th century painters. ‘The Master Etcher,’ as he has come to be described by art historians, toys with the interplay between God, nature and humanity in his richly detailed representations of suffering, joy, intimacy and even sexual comedy an infamous etching and dry-point, ‘The Monk in the Cornfield’ (1646), shows a robed monk kneeling and thrusting into a pair of anonymous legs. There is more then just one provocative etching on display. However, on the whole, Rembrandt’s subject matter is much less bawdy. Sleeping puppies, pastoral scenes and Jesus all make repeated appearances in his etchings.
An etching is a print made from a treated metal plate, often copper or zinc, upon which fine needles, drypoint and burin are used to ‘draw’ a scene. Ink is then applied in order to produce numerous reproductions. It is believed that Rembrandt printed his work himself instead of handing it off to an apprentice. Rembrandt favored etching, believing the relatively inexpensive method would allow for a wide distribution of his work among the Dutch general public. Some of the more fascinating frames include the copper etching plate matted next to the printed etching. ‘Male Nudes Seated and Standing’ (1646) is a fine example of this, located toward the end of the exhibit, next to the female nudes.
One nude, ‘Reclining Woman’ (1658), printed on rare Japanese paper, is particularly disarming and darkly beautiful. While many of Rembrandt’s work involving human beings, albeit brilliant, appears somewhat dated because of religious or contemporary Dutch costume, ‘Reclining Nude’ a bare are back and a quiet curve is timeless.
‘The Artist in his Studio’ (1928) shows a small, dark Rembrandt removed from the heavy, solid canvas of the foreground. Judging from his work, this painting seems telling not of a man who believed himself to be less than his art, but of a man who was his art, and for whom art was everything. The curators of this exhibit could have given the audience more biographical information on the artist, how the events of his life contributed to his artistic ‘journey.’ Instead, and perhaps wisely, they offer magnifying glasses at $3 a pair, urging you to see for yourself.
Rembrant’s Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher Through Jan. 18, 2004 The Gund Gallery, MFA 465 Huntington Ave., Boston $5.00 student tickets after noon, Mon-Fri
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