2001-2002

September 14, 2001, through January 13, 2002

The brilliant and celebrated writer, dramatist, aesthete, wit, and self-proclaimed "lord of language" was the focus of Oscar Wilde: A Life in Six Acts, originally organized by the British Library. Wilde's (1854–1900) rise to success as a literary and social figure was meteoric. His decline to notoriety and disgrace was equally dramatic. Twelve years after publishing his first work of fiction, in 1888, he was dead at the age of forty-six, buried in a pauper's grave on the outskirts of Paris.

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May 23 through August 19, 2001

Over 120 extraordinary drawings from this superb collection of over two thousand European and American sheets were on view. The selection encompassed all drawing and watercolor media, including ink, chalk, charcoal, crayon, and graphite.

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January 25 through May 6, 2001

Drawing upon the Morgan's collection of Poyer manuscripts, the exhibition also included choice loans of drawings and manuscripts from this country and abroad.

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