Continuing The Drawing Center’s tradition of collaborating with research and archival institutions, this extraordinary partnership with the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica (ING) will culminate with the presentation of approximately 60 metal plates (copper, zinc, lead, steel, and brass) engraved by Italian masters from the 16th century to the present. Drawing and its Double will include significant and iconic works by influential artists and engravers such as Giorgio Ghisi (1520–1582), Lafrery Du Perac (1512–1577), Salvator Rosa (1615–1673), Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720–1778), Antonio Canova (1757–1822), Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964), Piero Dorazio (1927–2005), and Achille Perilli (b. 1927). This exhibition will present the plates as primary art objects without preparatory drawings or the resultant prints.  Historical and modern plates from the archive will be presented in The Drawing Center’s Main Gallery. The Drawing Room will feature Decalogo by Paolo Canevari, a new body of work which was created during the artist’s 2008 residency at the ING.
 
Established in 1975, the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica is the result of a merger between the Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe and the Calcografia Nazionale. Housed in a monumental complex at Palazzo Poli near the Trevi Fountain in Rome, ING’s vast collection is comprised of 23,400 printing plates, 25,000 drawings, more than 152,000 prints, 16,000 photographs, and 25,000 books. Since its inception, ING has been instrumental in promoting the systematic study of printing plates as unique art works, and is dedicated to promoting the study and conservation of historical printmaking techniques.
 
Co-curated by ING curators Antonella Renzitti and Ginevra Mariani and Brett Littman, Executive Director of The Drawing Center.

Image: Giorgio Ghisi (1520–1582), Giudizio da Michelangelo, 1549. Engraving on copperplate. Dimensions variable. Rome, Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Inv. 201.11.