For the majority of the public, paintings can be a tricky art to follow, often disappearing behind a veil of elitism and abstraction. A new exhibit at the Chazen Museum of Art seeks to break down these barriers, focusing on the intricacies of the medium itself.

“Drawings from the Joseph McCrindle Collection” will be on display at the Chazen until late May, informing museum-goers that art is not always about the subject – the medium behind a piece can also influence how a viewer sees a particular work.

To that end, the collection puts together a wide variety of different art mediums, including ink and wash, graphite, watercolors and chalk, spread out over two rooms. Most of the works are of Italian origin, reflecting the tastes of Joseph McCrindle himself, although there are other nationalities represented, including works by Emile Bernard, Thomas Rowlandson and Jean Cocteau.

When everything comes together, the results can be quite enlightening. For instance, a pair of sketches illustrate the strengths of certain mediums: William Daniell’s ink and wash sketch, titled “Chinese Boats,” is nearly blueprint-like in form, while a few paintings away George Frederic Watts’ graphite sketch “Head of a Child” is imbued with a dreamy, insubstantial quality that brings out the deep fade that is possible with graphite.

The addition of watercolor, however, can change the entire composition of a painting. Thomas Rowlandson’s simplistic work “Father and Daughter” incorporates three techniques – ink and wash, graphite and watercolor. The result is a deceptively simple yet powerful sketch with just a small hint of red watercolor that gives the graphite and ink enough depth to stand out.

However, while the exhibition is ambitious in scope, it is lacking in depth. Although there are dozens of sketches and watercolors within the exhibit, there seems to be little to tie everything together at first glance. There are a grand total of zero explanatory plaques and displays among the artwork – save for a brief, perfunctory paragraph at the entrance
describing the bare minimum – and the audience is left alone to make sense of whatever comes out of the woodwork.

But, after digging a little deeper, threads and connections begin to form, and museum-goers can begin to understand some of the significant differences between the separate mediums. Ippolito Caffi’s watercolor “The Pantheon” is a veritable explosion of rich colors and three-dimensional shadows, while Richard Cooper’s “Landscape” (ink and wash) depicts a very similar scene, except the sparse medium of ink lends a sombre, faded tone. There is definitely a tonal difference between the two works, and the choice of medium – rich watercolors versus sparse ink – plays a major role in the spectrum.

Unfortunately, despite the interesting analogy between Caffi and Cooper’s works, they are placed in two separate rooms, dozens of yards away from each other and separated by other paintings and a wall. For the average viewer, this makes the connection between them even harder to find, although it is definitely there. Still, it should not take this much effort to even begin to comprehend the exhibit. Why couldn’t they have been placed immediately adjacent to each other, perhaps along with a small explanatory card showcasing this analogy? The entire exhibit seems casually thrown together with little semblance of thought into the layout of the paintings.

The exhibition of drawings from the McCrindle Collection can be viewed at the Leslie and Johanna Garfield Gallery until May 26.