From the museum press release
From 15 September 2012, the Museum Plantin-Moretus presents The Master’s Soul: Antwerp drawings from Rubens to Panamarenko. Eleven guest curators, including Dries Van Noten, Adriaan Raemdonck, illustrator-cartoonist Benoît and illustrator Kaatje Vermeire, among others, made a selection of the most beautiful drawings from the Print Room. The exhibition brings together a mix of exceptional drawings and sketches by old masters and contemporary talent.
The Plantin-Moretus Museum’s Print Room preserves more than 20,000 drawings and with its rich collection belongs among the world’s best. The collection of drawings is constructed around Antwerp artists from 1500 until today. This fall, the Print Room is exhibiting the most beautiful drawings from the collection.
Drawing is intimate. By means of a drawing, an artist puts onto paper a first impression, a brief pose, a snapshot, an emotion. It is a quick way to capture a stream of thought and to organize ideas. More than in any other medium, the artist exposes his soul in a drawing.
The museum called upon eleven guest curators to put together a collection of drawings by old masters and contemporary work from the Print Room. They made surprising thematic connections or opted for affinities in style, composition or line across the centuries.
Fashion designer Dries Van Noten, illustrator Kaatje Vermeire and gallery owner Adriaan Raemdonck made selections using their drawing experience. Specialists Ger Luijten, Professor Katlijne Vander Stighelen and curator Stefaan Hautekeete made a choice using their professional eye. A few local residents and volunteers with a heart for the museum also selected their favourite works. Thus did the exhibition grow to become a fascinating journey along islands of personal tastes and preferences.
Drawings are very sensitive to light, which is why they are rarely exhibited. The Master’s Soul is therefore a unique opportunity to admire the hidden collection of the museum’s Print Room. The exhibition includes, among others, studies, sketches and drawings from Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, Jan Brueghel, Eugeen Van Mieghem, the Linnig family, Floris Jespers, Panamarenko, Jan Fabre and Sam Dillemans.