Anders Zorn: Sweden’s Painter-Etcher

Little known today, Anders Zorn (Swedish, 1860–1920) was one of the most famous artists at the turn of the twentieth century. Based in Paris, he was among a group of artists that sought to raise the status of etching to that of painting. Calling themselves “painters-etchers, ” and seeing themselves as part of the tradition of master artists such as Rembrandt, they used etching to explore and show the world in a new way. Zorn was esteemed for his active and bold etching technique and his masterful use of parallel and crosshatched lines to create images. This is the first exhibition in which all eighteen of Zorn’s prints in the Museum’s Collection—ranging in subject from noble portraits to peasant life in Sweden—will be on view.