Gallery B-10: Gothic Casts
Sculpture of the Hellenistic Period (323-146 B. C.) shows a further development of tendencies already manifested in the preceding century. Individualism led to a vigorous development of portraiture and genre sculpture. Art ran the whole gamut of passion, from the bestial to the ideal, and this amplification of the emotional theme was accompanied by a wider range of subject material than had yet occurred. With these changes came a lowering of ideals. Spiritual emptiness, sensationalism, and lack of self-restraint are only too often characteristic of Hellenistic art. The chief centres of art in this period were not in Greece, but at Pergamon, Rhodes and Alexandria.
The development of Roman sculpture was influenced, on the one hand, by native Italian realistic tendencies, and on the other, by the example of Greek sculpture. Not only were there in Rome numerous Greek sculptures to serve as models, but also many transplanted Greek artists, who had left their native land to seek employment in Italy. To the copies of famous masterpieces executed by these eclectic artists, it may be remarked, we owe our knowledge of many celebrated works of Greek sculpture, which otherwise would have been lost to us. In studying Roman art we note first one tendency, then the other, predominating, but neither is ever lost to sight. It is this dualism that gives to Roman art its distinctive character.
THE PRINT DEPARTMENT
The Print Study Room
The Print Department occupies two rooms on the Main Floor (Print Study Room and Library) and a large exhibition gallery on the Second Floor. The collection, comprising over 5,000 prints, was the munificent gift to the Society in 1916 of an anonymous donor. The collection, formerly owned by William M. Ladd of Portland, Oregon, represents the work of years in collecting, and illustrates in a comprehensive way the history of the graphic arts. The strength of the collection lies in its splendid representation of the work of XIX century and modern etchers. In this respect it may be said to be second only to the famous Avery Collection in New York. The collection offers an exceptional opportunity for the study and enjoyment of a branch of art that is intimately related to drawing and painting and yet has distinctive qualities of its own.
Selections of prints, frequently changed, are exhibited in the large gallery devoted to this purpose on the Second Floor. Prints not on exhibition are kept in the Print Study Room on the First Floor, to the left of the entrance. Visitors are welcome. The curator is glad to show any prints not on exhibition and to assist the student in every way possible. Adjoining the Study Room is the Library, where in addition to general reference books deposited by the Minneapolis Athenaeum, there is a valuable reference library on the subject of prints, which formed part of the former Ladd Collection. Students will also find useful a collection which is now being made of photographs and other reproductions of works of art.