Arthur Wesley Dow

The MFA celebrates its acquisition of a rare album of 264 cyanotypes by New Englander Arthur Wesley Dow with an installation of the blue-toned photographs alongside the artist’s color woodcuts. Inspired in the 1890s by the MFA's outstanding Japanese collection, the artist and educator developed theories—about line, color, and the creation of a harmony of lights and darks in a composition—that influenced numerous artists in the early twentieth century. This exhibition reveals the remarkable sensitivity of Dow’s little-known work with the camera.

Arthur Wesley Dow
Photographer and Printmaker