Newswise — MOUNT VERNON, Iowa– Summer art history research is revealing new discoveries about 58 drawings that many don’t even know exist.
The drawings were given to Cornell College in the 1950s. Other than an appraisal for insurance purposes in the 1990s and a few shows back then, no one has taken an in-depth look at the drawings that make up the Sonnenshein Collection.
“We have already started to reattribute works of art, and we hope to make these 58 drawings from the 16th to 19th century available and accessible to the public,” said Cornell College Professor of Art History Christina Penn-Goetsch.
Two students are working with Penn-Goetsch to explore the drawings by removing the art from their frames and photographing each one.
“Drawings are used in this period–The Early Modern World–both as practice pieces, sketches after works or they are preliminary drawings, preparations for the final works of art,” Penn-Goetsch said.
The student researchers and Professor Penn-Goetsch know the drawings have been overlooked in the past 20 years because they’re not accessible. To change that, they’re creating a digital exhibition online and a physical exhibition, which will be held in the Peter Paul Luce Gallery on the Cornell College campus March 26 to April 19, 2017.
The research group hopes their new discoveries and their effort to digitize the collection bring about awareness of what Cornell College’s collection has to offer.
This research is part of an intensive 10-week program called the Cornell Summer Research Institute that runs from May 16 to July 22. Forty students and 23 faculty members are collaborating on research projects across the liberal arts disciplines. Students work one-on-one with professors on more than 20 research projects that have real-world impact.
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