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A woman lying on her back with only head and shoulders visible, her arms wrapped tight against her chest. She is in black and blue watercolor. Text at top reads: “Things one say to make them stay, come back, or find you somewhere accidentally (discover you) I had a bad dream. Only you can make me do it. I dunno what to say.” Under that, text reads: “White Lies.”
Marlene Dumas, White Lies. Paula and Leonard Granoff Fund and Mary B. Jackson Fund

On Paper

Gifts from Paula and Leonard Granoff
October 29, 2022 - April 16, 2023
A woman lying on her back with only head and shoulders visible, her arms wrapped tight against her chest. She is in black and blue watercolor. Text at top reads: “Things one say to make them stay, come back, or find you somewhere accidentally (discover you) I had a bad dream. Only you can make me do it. I dunno what to say.” Under that, text reads: “White Lies.”
Marlene Dumas, White Lies. Paula and Leonard Granoff Fund and Mary B. Jackson Fund

Introduction

This selection reveals a variety of approaches to drawing in recent decades, primarily by artists who have a sustained practice using paper as a site for independent works of art. Some of the works here might even challenge ideas about what a drawing is.

Museum collections are built through the interest and generosity of benefactors and this exhibition celebrates the support of Paula and Leonard Granoff. For the past 40 years they have championed the museum through gifts ranging from 18th-century Japanese woodblock prints to contemporary fashion and art, as well as through contributions to numerous museum projects. In 1987 they created an endowment to fund the purchase of contemporary drawings. The works displayed here have been purchased with their fund or were direct gifts from them.

Jan Howard

Houghton P. Metcalf Jr. Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs

Special thanks to Grace Xiao, Mellon Summer Intern 2022 | Brown BA 2024, for her assistance with research and writing.

Paula and Leonard Granoff, through the Paula and Leonard Granoff Fund and direct charitable giving, have facilitated the acquisition of more than 200 objects into the museum collection, including those featured in this exhibition. RISD Museum is supported by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with the generous partnership of the Rhode Island School of Design, its Board of Trustees, and Museum Governors.



Jan Howard,

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Related Objects

Various colorful images radiate from the center of the page, which features a yellow circle with brown designs. At the lower center, two figures light cigarettes.

Lari Pittman

Optimal setting for atmospheric conditions that can induce melodrama in the male
Vertical streaks of white and black paint on off-white paper. Drips and splatters of black paint on the page as well.

Pat Steir

The Austria Group. No. 2
Illustration of a light-skinned woman standing on the sidewalk. With her mouth agape, she wears a long magenta coat. Text at the top reads: “AUTUMN IN NEW YORK.”

Rosalind Chast

Autumn in New York
A white organic form with an eye-like shape is drawn against a pale blue rectangle. At left is an organic yellow shape, and towards the bottom are organic red shapes.

Sherrie Levine

After Joan Miró
Red-toned print of a tall figure in a gray suit and top hat against a deep-red background. He is looking to the left towards a framed image.

Peter Doig

Haus der Bilder (House of Pictures)
Graphite drawing of two figures facing each other. The female-presenting one has their face shaded in and their leg wrapped around the male-presenting one, whose face is unshaded. Red text falls vertically and reads: “TANGO AL DESNUDO.”

Sandra Vásquez de la Horra

Tango al desnudo (Nude Tango)
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On Paper : Gifts from Paula and Leonard Granoff

October 29, 2022 - April 16, 2023
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