About

Since the Renaissance, blank sheets of paper have been an important creative motor in Western art. They provide a neutral space, ideally suited for both effortless jeux d’esprit and hard-won accumulative mark making. The elementary act of putting pen to paper is one of the few constant factors that connects the activity of artists working over a period stretching back half a millennium. The drawings, works on paper and graphic art in this display show the many reasons why artists have been drawn to paper.

Encompassing a period from the 1880s to the 1980s, this display brings together …