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BMA staff previews Small Treasures

/ Exhibitions

Dr. Schindler and Terry Beckham, Exhibitions Designer, with Vermeer's 'Girl with a Red Hat.'
Dr. Schindler and Terry Beckham, Exhibitions Designer, with Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Red Hat.’

Yesterday, several members of the BMA staff traveled to the North Carolina Museum of Art to preview Small Treasures: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, and Their Contemporaries. This exhibition, which comes to Birmingham in January, features small paintings made by some of the greatest artists of the Dutch Golden Age.

Previewing an exhibition helps us understand the artworks in a way that reproductions can’t convey. By studying the paintings in person, we can get a feel for the presence these works have on a wall and in a space, as well as make decisions about the type of lighting we want to have in the galleries, which wall colors might complement the paintings and frames best, or how we can arrange artworks to “speak to each other” in the galleries.

Looking at these mini miracles in paint, Dr. Robert Schindler, Curator of European Art, said: “I am so excited to show these works in Birmingham! Although these paintings are small, they have a big presence. Besides, when do you ever have a chance to see a masterpiece by Johannes Vermeer, to name only one of the great artists in this show? It’ll truly be an amazing opportunity.”