Artists have for centuries explored the interaction of paper and light. This exhibition of drawings charts some of the innovative ways in which the two media were creatively used together. Works include the Museum’s extraordinary 12-foot-long transparency by Carmontelle—essentially an 18th-century motion picture—which will be shown lit from behind as originally intended. Drawings by more contemporary artists including Vija Celmins will join sheets by Tiepolo, Delacroix, Seurat, and Manet to portray the themes of translucency and the representation of light.

Image: Vija Celmins (b. 1938), Untitled (Coma Berenices #3) (detail), 1973, graphite on acrylic ground. Collection of Mary Patricia Anderson Pence. © Vija Celmins. Photo: Glen Cheriton