Major Albrecht Dürer exhibition to open at the Whitworth

05 May 2023

A team of Manchester-based and international researchers have been examining Dürer’s art from the perspective of material culture studies for over five years

Albrecht Durer, Saint Anthony Before the Town

The exhibition was the brainchild of Edward Wouk, a Renaissance art historian, who began collaborating with the Whitworth’s curatorial team to shine a light on the gallery’s Dürer collection, which has not been the subject of a major exhibition for over half a century.

The team comprises established Dürer scholars, art historians and historians of material culture: from Manchester's School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, Dr Edward Wouk, Professor Sasha Handley, Dr Stefan Hanß, and the Whitworth Curator (Historic Fine Art) Imogen Holmes-Roe are joined by Australian and European researchers Jennifer Spinks, Matthew S. Champion, Dagmar Eichberger and Charles Zika.

Albrecht Dürer's Material World offers a new perspective on Dürer as an intense observer of the 16^th century worlds of manufacture, design and trade that fill his graphic art. Woodcuts, etchings and engravings from the Whitworth’s collection, as well as items loaned from other museums and galleries, are juxtaposed with a range of objects from Dürer’s time, including armour and measuring instruments, books and textiles.

Dr Edward Wouk, from the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, said: "This exhibition is a testament to Manchester collaboration at its very best. The result is a highly innovative and interactive exhibition that will not only draw visitors into Dürer’s material world but also prompt them to think about how his radical experiments in the medium of print, new to his time, might resonate in an age when digital media are again making us think about our relationship to the emotional lives of objects in our world.”

Professor Sasha Handley said: “This exhibition has allowed me to explore new aspects of Renaissance sleep and dream experiences, and to consider the ways in which innovative domestic technologies that we associate with the ‘material Renaissance’ transformed bodily habits and everyday behaviours in Dürer’s Nuremberg”.

Dr Stefan Hanß added: "I had the privilege of conducting some microscopic work on the Whitworth Dürer prints and engravings – to look at them closely with a digital microscope was a really mesmerising experience that prompts us to reconsider how a changing Renaissance material world, characterised by increasing globalisation, sparked artistic creativity and innovation in the production of art and crafts, as well as Renaissance concepts like ingenuity.”

Imogen Holmes Roe, Curator (Historic Fine Art) said the exhibition represents a 'landmark' for the Whitworth’s Historic Fine Art collection. She added: "As a university gallery, the collaborative nature of the project is allowing us to juxtapose new research into Dürer’s art with the Whitworth’s internationally renowned print collection."

The exhibition opens at the Whitworth on 30 June 2023 and runs until 10 March 2024.

More information:

The exhibition has been supported by:

Image: Albrecht Dürer, Saint Anthony Before the Town, 1519, engraving, 98 x 142 mm © The Whitworth, The University of Manchester. Photo: Michael Pollard.