New acquisitions
Paul Bril to Wendy Red Star 

New acquisitions: Paul Bril to Wendy Red Star showcased prints and drawings acquired by the Museum over the past five years. The works ranged from an early 17th-century study for a fresco by the Flemish artist Paul Bril to digital prints from 2019 by the Apsáalooke (Crow) artist Wendy Red Star, whose work examines the intersections of her indigenous heritage with colonialist structures and institutions.

The exhibition featured work by some of the best artists working today and highlights the important place contemporary art has within the British Museum collection. It celebrated and reflected the diversity of graphic production, from Baroque drawings to historical and satirical prints. The selection showed the creative possibilities of working with paper and the enduring role of printmaking and drawing, whether large-scale drawings or artist notebooks.

Also featured were works made during the COVID-19 pandemic by British artists Cornelia Parker, Gillian Wearing and Michael Landy. Other highlights included 19th-century drawings by British artists Samuel Palmer and Dante Gabriel Rossetti; the French painter Simon Vouet and the Italian artist Tanzio da Varallo; prints by Claudine Bouzonnet Stella, one of the few 17th-century women printmakers; and a diverse selection of more recent works by artists such as Elisabeth Frink, Anselm Kiefer, Michael Craig-Martin and Khadija Saye.