VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents The Plains of Mars: European War Prints, 1500—1825, from the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, on view February 7 - May 10, 2009 at the Audrey Jones Beck Building.

From 1500 to 1825, Europe remained in an almost perpetual state of war. Religion, politics, economics, and dynastic ambition all played a role in the turmoil that spread across the continent. Webs of often-shifting alliances meant that distinct conflicts easily became inflamed and widespread.

The proliferation of the printed image that began in the late fifteenth century meant that various aspects and scenes of war could be experienced by the general public for the first time. War-related prints came to serve many functions: commemorative, propagandistic, iconic, narrative, eulogistic, critical, and instructional.

Several museum exhibitions have been devoted to war in art, including particular conflicts.

The Plains of Mars: European War Prints, 1500—1825, from the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation is the first large-scale exhibition to survey the theme of war and peace in the early-modern period specifically through the graphic print.

Among the artists represented are Albrecht Dürer, Annibale Carracci, Jacques Callot, Francisco de Goya, and Théodore Géricault.

The Plains of Mars is divided into five thematic categories, providing considerable overlap and interplay: 1) War; 2) Soldiers; 3) Soldiers and Civilians; 4) Battle; and 5) Peace.

The exhibition presents varied images of soldiers; battles (including specific historical events); production, innovation, and instruction in arms and armor; and representations of abstract concepts related to war and peace.

Pictured: Albrecht Dürer, The Lady on Horseback and the Landsknecht, c. 1497 , 1999.20.