Into the Wosk Collection: Discovery & Wonder

Into the Wosk Collection: Discovery and Wonder presents selections from the extensive collection of Dr. Yosef Wosk, a passionate collector whose interests span from books, manuscripts, photographs, prints, paintings, sculptures, furniture to a variety of cultural objects.

Highlights include portraits by internationally renowned photographers Naomi Savage, Diane Arbus, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, and Anne Brigman. Portraiture is a notable strength in the collection, as exemplified by Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photograph of Henri Matisse with doves, Diego Rivera’s photograph of Frida Kahlo and Emmy Lou Packard, Alexander Liberman’s image of Marcel Duchamp’s hands playing chess, and Man Ray’s close portrait of Ernest Hemingway. Still life images by Edward Weston and Walker Evans, Brassai’s Chartres in Winter, Berenice Abbott’s New York at Night, Ansel Adams’s Half Dome and Moon, and Fred Herzog’s black-and-white photographs further illustrate the breadth and depth of Dr. Wosk’s photographic holdings.

In addition to photographs, the exhibition includes etchings by Pablo Picasso, Francisco Goya, and Rembrandt van Rijn; lithographs by Marc Chagall and Odilon Redon; and several pochoir prints from a well-preserved edition of Henri Matisse’s Jazz suite.

Co-curated by artist Adad Hannah and Audain Art Museum’s Gail & Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chief Curator, Kiriko Watanabe, the exhibition draws from Dr. Wosk’s wide-ranging collection of photographs and works on paper. With support from collection advisor and art historian Spencer W. Stuart, the curators reviewed a substantial number of works, with a particular focus on photographs and etchings.