ALBRECHT DÜRER

DESCRIPTION

A record year exhibition of visitors in a lots of cities. More than 100 original artworks by Albrecht Dürer from one private collection.

The world, according to the German, is unraveling. Religion, sex, gender identity and politics are shown with such unflinching detail, magnifying glasses are provided.

The exhibit’s 75 prints and engravings in Burgos are all black and white, but full of color laced with acerbic hues. Darkness is rarely so illuminated. Dürer’s art enjoyed a popular revival in the 1970s, and it’s easy to see why.

Ink, metal and paper were his instruments. Brutal honesty was his refrain. All in the exhibit are from a private collection.

Drawing from biblical and classical texts, Dürer merges them into a singular vision of a monster emerging from the sea to trample worshippers. Blood rains down on the masses, while God stands ready with sword to slice through the blasphemous as angels prepare for retribution.

For the most part, Dürer doesn’t delve into many gray areas; It’s always pretty clear what’s good and evil, right and wrong, although his narratives are intertwined so tightly that there’s always a question about who the sinners and saints really are. This is his genius. In his early 20s, he enhanced printing techniques that are widely used today.

He was a mathematician and dabbled in every medium — painting, watercolors and drawing — except sculpture, and most genres, including portraiture, landscapes and historical scenes. But prints are his chart-toppers. Production was canceled with his death in 1528 after a long run that drew audiences throughout Europe. His ratings never sagged. By 25, he was considered a figure on par with Michelangelo, Da Vinci and Raphael.

But Dürer was iconoclastic to a greater degree than other Italian masters, who were more closely connected with the papacy and religious orthodoxy. He was unapologetically humanist. Like his life, his prints are about enigmas. EThe show presents works such engraving “Melancholia I” (1514), his most interpreted work and considered one of the most important Renaissance images.