Face to Face
Left: Liu Dan 劉丹, Portrait of a Man, 2001. Princeton University Art Museum. Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund; with gifts from the P. Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art; Richard and Ruth Dickes; and David Solo. © 2001, Liu Dan. Photo: Bruce M. White
Right: Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), Bust of Bearded Man Wearing a Turban, ca. 1645–50. Princeton University Art Museum. Bequest of Dan Fellows Platt, Class of 1895. Photo: Jeffrey Evans
Princeton University Art Museum
Princeton, NJ 08544
USA
Virtual face-to-face interactions have become as commonplace as in-person encounters. Prior to the advent of “moving pictures” in the late nineteenth century, the human face as a still, two-dimensional image was often rendered on paper as both unique and reproductive artworks, ranging from intimate sketches to large print editions. This collections-based exhibition focuses on the universal appeal of the human visage, both revealed and concealed. Depicted by artists across centuries, cultures, and continents and in a wide variety of media, the faces displayed in spatial conversation with each other provoke issues of identity, celebrity, and divinity while positing different modes of engagement, from gentle intimacy to emotional confrontation.
Curated by
Heather and Paul G. Haaga Jr., Class of 1970, Curator of Prints and Drawings
,Princeton University Art Museum
