‘Traces of the Hand: Master Drawings from the Collection of Frederick and Lucy S. Herman’ Opens Jan. 25 at The Fralin Museum of Art at U.Va.

Avid collectors since their college days, Frederick and Lucy S. Herman spent more than 50 years building an impressive collection of more than 250 works on paper, which they generously donated to The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia in 2006 and 2007 for the instruction of its students.

The museum’s exhibition, “Traces of the Hand: Master Drawings from the Collection of Frederick and Lucy S. Herman,” features a selection of drawings from this collection. The exhibition opens Jan. 25 and runs through May 26.

“‘Traces of the Hand’ celebrates the Hermans’ achievement as discriminating collectors, highlighting areas in which the collection excels and which clearly correspond to their tastes and interests,” said the exhibition’s curator, Lawrence O. Goedde, adjunct curator of prints and drawings and professor of art history in U.Va.’s McIntire Department of Art. “These include social satire, portraiture, German Romanticism, and the depiction of the natural world through landscape and marine imagery.”

Although the drawings in this show range in date from about 1530 to 1945 and represent a variety of artistic periods, the exhibition reveals one characteristic that unites them: their superior quality and visual interest. In addition, this exhibition also provides an opportunity for student research on these drawings to be published. The research was carried out in the seminars on the history and connoisseurship of drawings and prints that Goedde has taught since 2006.

“This research by both graduate and undergraduate students has resulted in new attributions and new identifications of subjects, and it has led students to a deeper appreciation of the highly varied purposes of drawings, as well as enhanced their understanding of the differing functions of specific drawings within an individual artist’s creative process,” said Goedde, adding that he will use the exhibition for teaching during the spring semester.

During the exhibition’s run, the museum’s website will feature an online catalogue with works from the show, allowing greater access for students and the community at large.

The museum, located at 155 Rugby Road, is open Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.

The Fralin Museum of Art’s programming is made possible by the support of The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

The exhibition is made possible through the support of The Fralin Museum of Art Volunteer Board; the Arts Enhancement Fund, sponsored by the Vice Provost for the Arts: fostering access + innovation; the McIntire Department of Art in the College of Arts & Sciences; the Denison and Louise Hatch Americana Preservation Fund; Albemarle Magazine; and Ivy Publications LLC’s Charlottesville Welcome Book.