RICHMOND, VA.- The University of Richmond Museums presents Building the Collection: Recent Acquisitions from the Harnett Print Study Center, on view through September 21, 2008. The exhibition features works on paper recently added to the permanent collection of the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center. Ranging from Renaissance engravings and Impressionist etchings to contemporary American screenprints and lithographs, selected works demonstrate a variety of printmaking processes.

Highlights of Building the Collection include: · Jean Arp’s (French, 1886-1966) Constellation, an abstract screenprint from 1951; The Auction, a 1988 intaglio by Sue Coe (British, born 1951); An offset lithograph, Hammers, 1970, by Jim Dine (American, born 1935); The etching Le Chapeau Épinglé, 1894, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (French, 1841-1919); Isadora Duncan, 1915, graphite on paper by Abraham Walkowitz (American, 1878-1965).

Founded in 2001, the Joel and Lila Harnett Print Study Center houses the permanent collection of works on paper of the University of Richmond Museums and serves as a research center for the study and exhibition of prints, drawings, and photographs. With more than 5,000 works on paper in the collection by artists from the fifteenth century to the present, the Center promotes exposure to original works of art to the University’s students, faculty, and staff as well as the Richmond community and the region. Through research, programs, publications, and exhibitions, the Harnett Print Study Center encourages the study and appreciation of works on paper and the visual arts.

Named in honor of Joel and Lila Harnett, the Center continues to actively add to the collection. Among the more than 800 artworks acquired by the museum over the past two years are acquisitions from the Center Street Studio Archives, and gifts by transfer from the Richmond Public Library and the Valentine Richmond History Center. Individual donors include Franken Grohs Collinson, Walter McKinley Crowe, David Finkbeiner, Joel and Lila Harnett, Derek Mason and Daniel Jacobs, Xavier Nuez, William and Ann Oppenhimer, and Andrew Stasik.

Organized by the University of Richmond Museums, the exhibition was co-curated by Richard Waller, Executive Director, University of Richmond Museums, and Katie Der, ’11, business administration and studio art double major, University of Richmond, and the 2008 Harnett Summer Research Fellow, University Museums.