Pushing Paper

CONTEMPORARY DRAWINGS FROM 1970 TO NOW

For the first time, the British Museum has co-curated an exhibition with partner museums from around the UK to display and then tour contemporary artworks from its Prints and Drawings collection. Pushing paper: contemporary drawing from 1970 to now will illustrate how artists experiment with the power of paper to express their ideas, pushing the medium in new directions. It will highlight the breadth and quality of the Museum’s collection of modern art, as well as its global scope. The exhibition of 56 works will showcase the astonishing diversity of contemporary drawing over the last fifty years, with graphic work by artists such as David Hockney, Rachel Whiteread, Sol LeWitt, Anish Kapoor, Tracey Emin and Grayson Perry, as well as exciting works by emerging artists like Hamid Sulaiman and Rachel Duckhouse. Many of these pieces will be on public display for the first time, including work by Gwen Hardie, Jonathan Callan and Jan Vanriet.

The exhibition will begin at the British Museum and then travel on to partner museums as part of the Museum’s National Programmes, allowing more people around the UK the opportunity to see British Museum objects outside of London. In addition, each partner venue will embed works from their own collection into the exhibition whilst on display, creating a unique new interpretation of Pushing paper at every partner venue.

In a new way of working, curatorial staff from partner museums collaborated with the British Museum to decide on themes within the exhibition and to research and select the works on display, as well as contribute chapters to the accompanying catalogue. Devising Pushing paper in this collective way allows the knowledge and expertise of staff at both the partner museums and the British Museum to be built upon, reaping the rewards of skill sharing, and building up a network of expertise in works on paper.