Works in Process

From 19th-century Japanese prints and sketches to European and American 20th-century design drawings and studies, this exhibition demonstrate how ideas—and even artworks themselves—develop throughout the process of creation. Artists capture the world around them with pencil, pen, and brush, but that's only the beginning. Some images become a multiplicity of sketches, each mark conveying the artist’s thought process. Other works document the past, serve as inspiration for future creations, or demonstrate an artistic process in the midst of completion. Each line and shape expresses the ways artists work through their ideas.

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

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.