From the museum website, 22 November 2011
In an extraordinary exhibit that will showcase what historians, curators and collectors have for centuries declared the iconic Dutch artist’s “dirty little secrets,” twenty etchings by Rembrandt van Rijn (1609-69) will be unveiled all together for the first time at a reception, Tuesday, November 29, at 8 P.M. at Naomi Wilzig’s World Erotic Art Museum.
As well as being a painter and draftsman, Rembrandt was an exceptionally productive and innovative etcher. Making over three hundred etchings during his long career, the studies of his own face, of beggars and everyday scenes played a crucial role in his etchings of scenes from daily life, portraits and well-known scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Rembrandt’s nudes were guided by a principle of working only “from life”. Breaking convention of his time his honesty of the human form led to these works being hidden for centuries, that is until now.
From the collection of The Baron of Fulwood & Dirleton and curated by Naomi Wilzig, assisted by David Tamargo, the etchings will be on view at the museum’s new Rembrandt Gallery through Saturday, March 31. An assemblage of the only existing erotic etchings illustrating Rembrandt’s masterful technique, the exhibit will offer a provocative new perspective on the artist deemed by many as “one of the greatest prophets of civilization.”
Titles of the etchings such as “Adam and Eve,” “A Man Making Water” (1631) and “Woman Sitting Half Dressed Besides a Stove” (1658), meld the earthly with the spiritual, and are among the nudes, biblical, and Greek mythological studies which will be on display in this exhibition.