Maurice Brazil Prendergast
American, 1858—1924
Procession, Venice, 1899
Watercolor and gouache on paperboard
Bequest of John Gardner Greene in memory of his uncle, Howard Gardner Nichols
75.2

James Abbott McNeill Whistler
American, 1834—1903
Nocturne, 1879-1880
Etching
Gift of Mrs. Floyd McRae, Mrs. Calista Kern, and Mrs. Katharine S. Armstrong in memory of their mother, Mrs. Frank D. Stout
55.173

Albrecht Dürer
German, 1471—1528
Knight, Death and the Devil, 1513
Engraving
Gift of Professors Alice and George Benston
2002.320

George Romney
British, 1734—1802
Study for Mater Dolorosa, ca. 1770s
Pen and watercolor on paper
20 x 12 inches
Gift of Hildegard and Clyde Ryals
2004.15

After Romney's return from Italy in 1775, there was inevitably a strong classical influence on his work. At the same time, Romney was working on a commission (later withdrawn) from Thomas Orde for an altarpiece for the chapel of King's College, Cambridge. The subject was the Mater Dolorosa (the lamentation of Mary over the body of Christ), and this composition of a passionate figure may have some connection. Alternatively, as Romney scholar Alex Kidson suggests, it may be related to another subject, such as Susan when the Seas are Roaring (also mid- to late 1770s).

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
French, 1864—1901
c (La Clownesse assise; Mademoiselle Cha-u-Kao), 1896
Crayon, brush, and spatter lithograph on laid Japanese paper
Gift of Irene and Howard Stein
2001.13 c

Nellie Mae Rowe
American, 1900—1982
Peace, 1978
Crayon and pen on paper
Gift of Judith Alexander
2003.219

For Nellie Mae Rowe, drawing was a form of worship. She said, "I try to draw because [God] is wonderful to me. I just have to keep drawing until He says, 'Well done, Nellie, you have been faithful.' Then I will know that I have finished my work." In Peace, Rowe represented her own industrious hands, which seem to invoke benediction for the blue animal just beyond.

Bill Traylor
American, 1854—1949
Untitled [Exciting Event: House with Figures], ca. 1939—1947
Poster paint and pencil on cardboard
T. Marshall Hahn Collection
1997.114

Morton Broffman
American, 1928—1996
Dr. King and Coretta Scott King Marching, Montgomery, Alabama, 1965
Gelatin silver print
Gift of the Broffman Family, 2007.34

Morton Broffman—the principal photographer for the Washington National Cathedral for almost three decades—was a committed social activist who photographed some of the key marches and demonstrations of the civil rights era. He was in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 25, 1965, to witness Dr.Martin Luther King’s dramatic walk up Dexter Avenue to the steps of the state capitol. This concluded the five-day march from Selma to Montgomery in protest for voting rights for all American citizens. President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act on August 6, 1965.

Horace Cort
American, active 1940s—1970s
Lester Maddox Escorts Albert Dunn from the Parking Lot of his Pickrick Restaurant, Atlanta, Georgia, July 3, 1964
Gelatin silver print
Purchase with funds from Sandra Anderson Baccus in loving memory of Lloyd Tevis Baccus, M.D., 2007.99

The day after President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, three young black students— Albert Dunn, George Willis, and Woodrow Lewis—tried to enter the Pickrick restaurant, owned and operated by the notorious segregationist Lester Maddox. Atlanta–based photojournalist Horace Cort captured Maddox, pistol in hand, with his son, Lester Jr., brandishing an axe handle, escorting Albert Dunn across the parking lot and off his property.

Steve Schapiro
American, born 1936
Andrew Young, Rev. Ralph Abernathy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Selma to Montgomery March, Alabama, March 1965
Gelatin silver print
Purchase with funds from the H. B. ad Doris Massey Charitable Trust, 2007.223

This photograph shows Andrew Young—an influential figure in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and future mayor of Atlanta—briefing the press while his colleagues look on from the flatbed of a truck, which transported the press who were covering the march. Visible in the background, at center, with one camera around his neck and another in his hand, is photographer James Karales, who made many memorable photographs of the Selma to Montgomery March.

Mary Cassatt
American, 1844—1926
Mère et Enfant, 1909—1914
Pastel on paper
Purchase with funds from the Forward Arts Foundation and the Robert D. Fowler Family
2007.119

Mary Cassatt is best known for her sensuous depictions of mothers and children, illustrated by this pastel from the late phase of her career. Having studied "Madonna and Child" paintings by Italian and Northern Renaissance masters from Correggio to Rubens, Cassatt conferred modernity and a uniquely feminine perspective on the classic theme.

In Mère et Enfant, the figures demonstrate greater autonomy than in earlier models, most notably in the child's gaze away from the mother and the distance created by the child’s extended arm. Cassatt used pastels to enhance the warm and affectionate tone. Formerly employed only in preparatory sketches, pastel became an important medium under the Impressionists.

Cassatt exploited the medium's brilliant colors to express the vibrancy of modern life and to cast a soft radiance around the central figures. The rich colors and flattened perspective reveal the influence of Japanese block prints, which inspired many of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists.

Edgar Degas
French, 1834—1917
Singer at a Café-Concert, 1876—1877
Lithograph on white, close-textured smooth wove paper
Purchase with funds from the Lawrence and Alfred Fox Foundation for the Ralph K. Uhry Collection and General Acquisitions Fund
2008.3

Edgar Degas is considered one of the most important printmakers of the 19th century, due largely to his experimental methods. As his prints were never intended for publication, Degas retained the freedom to use innovative techniques. Created during his most productive phase as a printmaker, Singer at a Café-Concert may be Degas' first lithograph and the only one drawn directly onto stone. Through this technique, Degas was able to produce a range of tonalities culminating in the black ribbon tied around the singer's neck. The singer depicted in this lithograph is possibly Mlle Bécat, who appears repeatedly throughout Degas' work in the 1870's.

Louis Monza
American, born Italy, 1897—1984
The Cover Up, 1979
Linoleum block print
Gift of Lauri Martin and Susan Larsen Martin
2006.218

In the 1970s, Monza's work began to highlight his concerns about the cover-up of pollution in King’s Bay near his home in Redondo Beach, California. He created this print and a series of drawings depicting an increasingly monstrous marine creature, mutated by environmental contamination.

Here a vicious-looking fish opens his mouth to reveal the words "lies, lies, lies." This series demonstrates Monza's intense cynicism about what he viewed as political corruption and governmental lies.

Minnie Evans
American, 1892—1987
Modern Art, 1963
Oil, ink and crayon on paper board
Purchase with funds from Dan and Merrie Boone and the General Acquisitions Fund
2007.90

This small painting on paperboard, which the artist titled Modern Art, displays Evans's visionary powers fully developed, when her command of her medium was at its height. The drawing is sure, the composition adept, and the colors fresh. The composition, which departs from the strict symmetry characteristic of most of Evans's work, combines the arabesques, plant forms, and mask-like faces typical of her designs with a rare narrative scene which nevertheless includes many of her most potent symbols. The iconography is particularly celestial, full of stars and rainbows. A disembodied pair of eyes reveals an omnipresent God.