The Metropolitan Museum of Art 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10028 (212) 879-5500

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM TO EXHIBIT MASTER DRAWINGS FROM THE WOODNER COLLECTION Exhibition dates: March 10 - May 13, 1990 Exhibition location: Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall Press preview: March 5, 1990, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Master drawings from the Ian Woodner Family Collection, one of the world's outstanding private collections of European drawings, will be on view this spring at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among the approximately 150 works selected for the exhibition, Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, are drawings by , Cellini, G. B. Tiepolo, , Hans Holbein the Younger, Diirer, Watteau, Goya, Cezanne, Redon, Seurat, and others. The exhibition reflects Mr. Woodner's personal vision and is arranged by school: Italian, German, Dutch, Flemish, French, Spanish. According to Philippe de Montebello, Director of the Metropolitan Museum: "Mr. Woodner's collection is one of the most distinguished in private hands anywhere. It is remarkable in its comprehensive view of European draftsmanship from the 14th century to the early years of the 20th century. The collection has been exhibited in a number of cities here and abroad, most recently at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1987. The present exhibition will be the richest of them all. Mr. Woodner is tireless in his collecting activity, and the New York presentation includes treasures acquired since the London showing." Mr. Woodner stated: "One of the finest pleasures in collecting is the knowledge you acquire. And drawings are a better medium than paintings for obtaining knowledge, because you see what the artist was trying to do — it's right there, before your eyes. With drawings you're looking at the very essence of creation." (MORE) WOODNER Page 2 Mr. Woodner has collected drawings since the 1950s. One of his earliest and most significant purchases is the Satyr by (1500-71), acquired in 1959. This remarkable study is for a never-completed sculpture intended to decorate the entrance to the Royal Palace at Fountainbleau. Italian artists of the early Renaissance are especially well represented in Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection. The exhibition opens with a gallery devoted to the presentation of a double-sided sheet from the Libro de' Disegni of Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), one of the earliest important collectors of drawings. Formerly in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, this sheet contains nine drawings attributed to Filippino Lippi (1457-1504) and a colored gouache recently attributed to (1445-1510) that depicts Saints Anthony Abbot, James the Greater, and Catherine of Alexandria. Important drawings by Northern European artists include works by Albrecht Diirer (1471-1528), Hans Hoffmann (ca. 1530-91/2), Rembrandt (1606-69) , Pieter Jansz Saenredam (1597-1665), and Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641). Among the 19th-century works to be displayed are drawings by Paul Cezanne (1839-1906), Georges Seurat (1859-91), and Odilon Redon (1840-1916). The Ian Woodner Family Collection is particularly rich in drawings by Redon, and those exhibited reflect the range of the symbolist artist's sensibility, from the surreal, dreamlike apparition of the charcoal Cactus Man to the shimmering vibrancy of his pastel La barque mystique. Ian Woodner is a real estate developer who was trained as an architect at the and the Graduate School of Architecture at . He is also an accomplished artist who lives in . As an architect, he collaborated with Salvador Dali on the Birth of Venus Pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair, and he gave Willem de Kooning one of his earliest commissions, which was to paint murals there. He also designed the Pharmacy Building at the Fair. He is now president of The Jonathan (MORE) WOODNER Page 3 Woodner Company, which builds and manages properties in New York, Washington, D. C. , and . The works in Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection have been personally selected by Mr. Woodner, who commissioned the scholarly catalogue, published by Abaris Books, New York, that accompanies the exhibition. The catalogue was edited by MaryAnne Stevens, assisted by Christopher Lloyd, Jane Shoaf Turner, and Nicholas Turner. The exhibition has been designed by Jeffrey L. Daly, Chief Designer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Michael C. Batista, Exhibition Designer; lighting is by Steven Hefferan, Museum Lighting Designer.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION please call John Ross or Norman Keyes, Jr. Public Information. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (212) 879-5500 February 1990