Exhibitions

PAPER BACKS

Vanderbilt University Museum of Art / 1220 21st Ave S. September 2 - December 7th (Reception: September 6 5:00pm - 7:00pm)

Many physical traces are left on prints as they travel across time and space. How were interventions such as stamped collectors’ marks, offhand doodles, and improvised matting used to reflect and refine collectors’ identities and, in the case of artist-collectors, to inform creative practices? Paper Backs: Hidden Stories of European Prints from Vanderbilt University Museum of Art Collection explores these questions by focusing on both the fronts and backs of prints, revealing aspects of works on paper rarely seen by museumgoers.

Paper Backs runs September 2 to December 7, 2025. Join us for an opening reception on Saturday, September 6 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.


Image: Detail of Coronation of the Virgin Mary with Augustine and William of Revaulx, by Carlo Cesio after Giovanni Lanfranco, c. 1650-1680. Etching.Gift of Mary Mildred and George H. Sullivan, transferred from the Brooklyn Museum of Art (2007)