One of the many perks of working at a Museum is the opportunity to view works of art from vantage points that the public very rarely get to see – canvases without frames, on tabletops, drawings without a barrier of glass or mat board (which may conceal an artist’s note or paint dabs), art in undiffused light, an unobstructed view from the front…and back. If you’ve ever stepped into an art vault or visited the Museum’s Paper Centre (which I highly recommend), you’ll understand how very different the experience is from the gallery presentations.

Here are a few of the interesting verso views of art in McMaster’s collection:

There is handwriting from artists and/or donors on the back of many works in the collection. Several have long narratives written in pencil telling the story that inspired the art. Others have technical notes from the artists about such things as the exact paint pigments selected.