Works of Art on Paper

The Works on Paper collection contains more than 5,000 prints, drawings, and photographs ranging from the twelfth to the twenty-first century, from manuscript illumination to contemporary works. The collection is particularly strong in drawings, both old master and modern, and Renaissance and Baroque engravings and etchings, including works by Albrecht Dürer, Hendrick Goltzius, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. The photography holdings are continually expanding, with examples from the medium’s earliest days to the present. Modern and contemporary art, predominantly American and European, have been an important part of the collection since its inception. Highlights include works by Vassily Kandinsky, André Masson, Dorothea Tanning, and Romare Bearden. This encyclopedic collection is designed to instruct, to fuel interest in the art-making of the modern era and in the historical circumstances that inspired the artists.

The collection was established in 1967 by the Art History Department, which continues to play an active role in the selection and donation of works to the museum. At the same time, the museum has benefited from numerous donations from private collectors, many of them Emory alumni from across the United States, as well as from present and former Emory faculty and, finally, diverse friends of the museum based in Atlanta and elsewhere. These gifts have enriched all the museum's collections immeasurably.

Works on paper are fragile and, for this reason, cannot be exhibited for extended periods of time. Each year at least two exhibitions are mounted in the John Howett Works on Paper Gallery, and throughout the year professors and students may examine works not on view in the Elaine L. Levin Study Room.

The museum is in the process of researching provenance for works that may have been in continental Europe during the Nazi Era. Learn more about this research.