Commentary:
MASTER STROKES:
DUTCH & FLEMISH
DRAWINGS IN LAST
INTRIGUING
WEEKEND AT OKCMOA
By Nancy Condit

The Oklahoma City Museum of Art was full of people this Saturday afternoon of the last weekend of
Master Strokes: Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the Golden Age. The drawings, from the
Victoria and Albert Museum in London, included wonderful works by Peter Paul Rubens and
Sir Anthony van Dyck, as well as works by Rembrandt van Rijn.

Of particular notes were three works by Peter Paul Rubens: "Study of a Seated Woman (the
Virgin)," about 1606, drawn with black and red chalk on paper, and the head of "Maria de' Medici,"
about 1622, the French Queen Mother, as she deferentially bows her head to her son the King, Louis XVIII. The third is a reworking of a drawing by an anonymous artist. Rubens reworked "God the Father,"1628-29, by applying a dark wash and white body color to create a sense of volume and strong directional light, read the label. "Rubens may have reworked about 200 drawings to challenge his inventiveness or as inspiration for his paintings," building on those around him. Try it.

There are are ships by Willem van de Velde the Younger: "Vessels Lying at the Mouth of a River," 1660-1670, done with pen and brown ink with a grey wash on paper, and "A Sea Fight, Probably the Battle of Lowestoft, June 1665," done after 1665. And there are Jan van Huijsum's "Studies of
Poppies, French Marigold, Wild Larkspur and a Tulip," along with six "Studies of Nasturtiums,"
1700-1749, done in watercolor over graphite on paper.

Stop by the drawing studio, with a cascade of fruits of all colors, paper, pencils and clip boards to make your own still life drawing. Try it - there are some very good non-perishable fruits available.

The exhibition ends tomorrow, Sunday January 21, with the OKCMOA open from Noon to 5 p.m.