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William Edgar Brigham, Study of Parrot on Perch, 1914. Gift of the Estate of William E. Brigham. RISD Museum, Providence

Introduction

Works in Process

July 31, 2021 - January 23, 2022

Art isn’t always about a finished product. The groups of objects in this exhibition demonstrate how ideas—and even artworks themselves—develop throughout the process of creation. Whether an image translated into a sketch then simplified into a design, a pattern made into an object, or motif preserved through careful documentation and later used as inspiration, these objects speak to one another, demonstrating some of the ways artists work through their ideas.

Line gives shape and form to vision, and it is also an own expressive entity that rewards close study. Whether articulated with a brush, pen, or pencil or carved and impressed, each mark conveys the artist’s thought process.

Curated by Emily Banas, Assistant Curator, Decorative Arts and Design and Wai Yee Chiong, Associate Curator of Asian Art

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (1874–1948), a daughter of Rhode Island senator Nelson W. Aldrich and the wife of John D. Rockefeller Jr., was a lifelong supporter of the arts. Mrs. Rockefeller assembled a remarkable collection of Asian woodblock prints, donating more than 700 Japanese prints to the RISD Museum.

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.

Selected Objects

William Edgar Brigham

Design Using Bird Motif and Preliminary Sketches, 1914

Karl Wilhelm de Hamilton

A Menagerie of Game Birds, 1718

Robert Evans Locher, designer

Lady-Lily-Swan Wallpaper, ca. 1920 - 1940

Ruth Culver Coleman

Valance, late 1700s - early 1800s

Joseph Stella

Study of a Male Wood Duck, early 1900s

Simon Lissim

Design for a Plate—Fish and Abstract Designs, ca. 1960

William Edgar Brigham

Study of Parrot on Perch, 1914

Simon Lissim

Design for a Platter—Fish Motif, 1961

Margaret C. Whiting

Design for an Embroidered Bedspread, ca. 1900

Utagawa Hiroshige

Tanzaku Triptych, 1840s

William Edgar Brigham

Nature Study: Various Birds, 1914

William Edgar Brigham

Jewelry Designs, 1914

Margaret C. Whiting

Design for an Embroidered Bedspread, ca. 1900

Katsushika Hokusai

Canary and Herbaceous Peony (Shakuyaku kanaari), ca. 1834

Katsushika Hokusai

Canary and Herbaceous Peony, ca. 1834

Utagawa Hiroshige

Java Sparrow and Plum (Ume ni bunchô), 1847-1852

William Edgar Brigham

Agate Bowl with Pheasant and Flowers, 1914

Margaret C. Whiting

Design for an Embroidered Bedspread, ca. 1900

Chinese

Birds on a Maple Tree, 1600s

Robert Evans Locher

Design for Wallpaper (Lady - Lily - Swan), ca. 1920 - 1940

Robert Evans Locher

Design (Urn and Swans), ca. 1920–1940

Robert Evans Locher

Design for Wallpaper (Lady - Lily - Swan), ca. 1920 - 1940

Probably Utagawa Hiroshige

Sketches for Tanzaku Prints

Japanese, Japan

Sketch of Ducks and Plum Blossoms, 1800s

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Works in Process

July 31, 2021 - January 23, 2022
View Checklist PDF

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