(photo provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)Shawn Merriman, a very successful private investor from Denver, decided to buy a really amazing Rembrandt etching on e-bay 5 years ago (funny, I've often considered doing that same thing). Anywho, flash forward 5 years and a massive amount of money later. Merriman is now the owner of a well established art dealership and also the owner of one of the finest private collections of Renaissance prints in the United States. Being a member of the Mormon church, he felt he needed to share his collection with Denver. I'm not going to lie, I was shocked that this show was exhibited in a Mormon church and guarded by volunteers (although they work in law enforcement). Seriously, the Denver Art Museum would have thanked their lucky stars to have hosted a show of this importance. The problem is, like everyone who was there today with me, nobody could have ever imaged the magnitude of this show without seeing it with their own eyes. I am so thankful that Merriman is sharing his collection with the public, I wish major museums would give works on paper more attention.
Rembrandt, The Hundred Guilder Print, c. 1647-49The show included 200 prints (etchings, woodblocks, etc.) by artists like Rembrandt, Rubens, van Leyden, Durer, and many others. As you can see from the image above, the Mormons don't mess around. When they put on an art show, they mean business! The collection of Rembrandt etchings alone could have been a show worth national attention. Even Timothy Standring, a curator for the Denver Art Museum, was in awe. As great as all this was, I have to mention one tiny thing. The Mormons have a very unique way of hosting an art exhibit.
Maria and I showed up like the punctual people that we are at 11:24 on the dot. We were greeted in the church by very lovely high school aged volunteers. They handed us a free exhibition catalog, which was very generous, and then directed us to some random room down the hall. We sat down in a room with about 40 other people while classical music soothed our souls. We were then greeted by another volunteer that instructed us to head towards the chapel. Strange, yes, but not too strange. We were seated in the chapel and another volunteer gave us an overview of what we were about to see. It was very pleasant, especially since most people don't happen to be art historians like Maria and myself. Next it got a little more bizarre. They dimmed the lights, shut the doors and turned on a film. The film was another overview of the show, but with images and a very religious description of what we were about to see. It said things like, "As you look at these masterpieces of the past, image what it would be like to remove Christ from the cross." I have to admit, they meant well, but it was a little intense. What-ev's I didn't care what I had to do, as long as I got to see some Durer woodblocks! It was well worth the wait. The show blew our minds, we were there for 2 hours and it felt like 5 minutes. I loved the approach to experiencing the prints. The volunteers provided a magnifying glass for everyone to closely examine the etchings. I can't imagine what the show would have been like without it. I noticed things I would have never seen. The smallest details that were essential to the overall biblical story. I can't believe we were allowed to get that close to the works. MoMA would have shot us dead on the spot. These prints were top of the line. A set of Durer prints even once belonged to Princess Diana and had been in royal collections for the last 400 years. Yikes! Thank you Shawn Merriman for sharing your collection, it was amazing!
Maria and I showed up like the punctual people that we are at 11:24 on the dot. We were greeted in the church by very lovely high school aged volunteers. They handed us a free exhibition catalog, which was very generous, and then directed us to some random room down the hall. We sat down in a room with about 40 other people while classical music soothed our souls. We were then greeted by another volunteer that instructed us to head towards the chapel. Strange, yes, but not too strange. We were seated in the chapel and another volunteer gave us an overview of what we were about to see. It was very pleasant, especially since most people don't happen to be art historians like Maria and myself. Next it got a little more bizarre. They dimmed the lights, shut the doors and turned on a film. The film was another overview of the show, but with images and a very religious description of what we were about to see. It said things like, "As you look at these masterpieces of the past, image what it would be like to remove Christ from the cross." I have to admit, they meant well, but it was a little intense. What-ev's I didn't care what I had to do, as long as I got to see some Durer woodblocks! It was well worth the wait. The show blew our minds, we were there for 2 hours and it felt like 5 minutes. I loved the approach to experiencing the prints. The volunteers provided a magnifying glass for everyone to closely examine the etchings. I can't imagine what the show would have been like without it. I noticed things I would have never seen. The smallest details that were essential to the overall biblical story. I can't believe we were allowed to get that close to the works. MoMA would have shot us dead on the spot. These prints were top of the line. A set of Durer prints even once belonged to Princess Diana and had been in royal collections for the last 400 years. Yikes! Thank you Shawn Merriman for sharing your collection, it was amazing!
2 comments:
Great write-up
That's funny - seeing as you know my background on all that. I could see it now.
M
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