Reed Anderson

When Reed Anderson started rummaging through the print room at the Spencer Museum of Art in the fall of 2002, he didn't think he would find a new life passion.But he did.

The exhibition is the brainchild of Reed Anderson, 50, a doctoral student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

"I'm hoping there will be other (venues) after the Brandywine," he said."One of my objectives in putting this exhibition together is that it would travel ...I didn't want it to just sit here in Kansas."

The idea for the exhibition was spawned about four years ago when Anderson was serving an internship at the Spencer Museum and Stephen Goddard, curator of prints and drawings, told him to get to know the collection.
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Anderson saw the light almost immediately, falling in love with scores of etchings by American artists inspired by French predecessors such as the brilliant Charles Meryon (1821-1868), who themselves were inspired by the etchings of the Dutch master Rembrandt.
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"I came away with much more respect for the medium and the artists involved with it," Anderson said.

Around 1880, according to Anderson, more and more artists began to discover that, unlike engraving, another intaglio technique, the more delicate art of etching allowed the same kind of freedom of expression and emotion that could be found through painting and drawing.
...
"I think the greatest contribution to the arts is his etchings, hands down," said Anderson, whose favorite works include Whistler's "The Garden" (1880) a dreamlike scene of a boy sitting alongside a Venetian canal that is one of the first prints to greet visitors at the Brandywine exhibition.
...
"It brings a tear to my eye every time I see it," Anderson said."It's a masterpiece."
...
"Some of his lines are drawn with a sewing needle, they're that fine," Anderson noted.
...
"You can sell 100 etchings, but you can only sell one drawing," noted Anderson, adding that the Venetian prints of Otto Henry Bacher were fetching hundreds of dollars each at the turn of the century, a considerable sum of money at the time.

The exhibition is the brainchild of Reed Anderson, 50, a doctoral student at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

"I'm hoping there will be other (venues) after the Brandywine," he said."One of my objectives in putting this exhibition together is that it would travel … I didn't want it to just sit here in Kansas."

The idea for the exhibition was spawned about four years ago when Anderson was serving an internship at the Spencer Museum and Stephen Goddard, curator of prints and drawings, told him to get to know the collection.
...
Anderson saw the light almost immediately, falling in love with scores of etchings by American artists inspired by French predecessors such as the brilliant Charles Meryon (1821-1868), who themselves were inspired by the etchings of the Dutch master Rembrandt.
...
"I came away with much more respect for the medium and the artists involved with it," Anderson said.

Around 1880, according to Anderson, more and more artists began to discover that, unlike engraving, another intaglio technique, the more delicate art of etching allowed the same kind of freedom of expression and emotion that could be found through painting and drawing.
...
"I think the greatest contribution to the arts is his etchings, hands down," said Anderson, whose favorite works include Whistler's "The Garden" (1880) a dreamlike scene of a boy sitting alongside a Venetian canal that is one of the first prints to greet visitors at the Brandywine exhibition.
...
"It brings a tear to my eye every time I see it," Anderson said."It's a masterpiece."
...
"Some of his lines are drawn with a sewing needle, they're that fine," Anderson noted.
...
"You can sell 100 etchings, but you can only sell one drawing," noted Anderson, adding that the Venetian prints of Otto Henry Bacher were fetching hundreds of dollars each at the turn of the century, a considerable sum of money at the time.