Pairings: Jörg Schmeisser and the Library's Collections

To complement the exhibition Jörg Schmeisser: Prints and Passages, on view in the Fairchild Gallery, Pairings gathers a selection of materials evoking Schmeisser’s masterful print techniques and lexiconic approach to image organization. Schmeisser often composed his prints as visual diaries, mixing landscapes or architectural renderings with patterns, object studies, and text that fill the page, approaching an all-over composition. In contrast, his engravings of the natural world are focused studies of form using a variety of printing techniques, from mezzotint to aquatint and etching, and recall artists’ prints and books of the natural world.

This collection of library materials reflects visual, technical, and thematic components of Schmeisser’s work, from Lucas Cranach the Elder, whose woodcuts influenced Schmeisser, to the early 18^th-century paintings of insects and flowers by Maria Sibylla Merian, a fellow artist-naturalist. All materials are available for check-out at the conclusion of the exhibition.

We invite you to tour the exhibition Jörg Schmeisser: Prints and Passages in the Fairchild Gallery, Booth Family Center for Special Collections, on Lauinger Library’s fifth floor.