Eva/Ave: Woman in Renaissance and Baroque Prints

November 25, 1990 – May 7, 1991
West Building, Ground Floor, Inner Tier

German 15th Century or Peter Maler, *The Death of the Virgin*, 1465/1470, woodcut, hand-colored in light orange-red, green, yellow, and brown, Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.519

This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: The exhibition featured 152 etchings, woodcuts, metalcuts, and engravings of woman in prints, dating from the 15th to the 17th century, by Italian, French, German, Swiss, Dutch, and Flemish artists. 150 works came from the National Gallery's collections, primarily the Rosenwald collection, and 2 works were lent by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Organization: The exhibition was organized in 7 thematic categories: Heroines and Worthy Women, The Virgin and Saints, Eve, Venus, The Power of Woman, Lovers and Lovers with Death, and Fortune and Prudence. It reflected the two polar extremes of portrayals of woman: the "evil" woman, Eve (Eva), and the "good" woman, the Virgin (Ave). H. Diane Russell, curator of old master prints, was the exhibition curator with the assistance of Bernadine Barnes, acting curator of Italian drawings. Gaillard Ravenel and Mark Leithauser designed the exhibition, and Gordon Anson designed the lighting.

Attendance: 94,525

Catalog: Eva/Ave: Woman in Renaissance and Baroque Prints, by H. Diane Russell with Bernadine Barnes. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1990.