Jacques Callot and Those Who Came After exhibition

The exhibition Jacques Callot and Those Who Came After brings together the eighteen etchings that form Callot’s pivotal masterpiece,Les Grandes Misères de la guerre (1633) (The Miseries and Misfortunes of War). In these images, Callot offers the first anti-war statement in Western art—a vision both unflinching and profoundly human. It was the first, but it will not be the last.

In the centuries that followed, artists would return to Callot’s example, finding in his etched lines a mirror for their own age. Again and again, they ask the same maddening questions:Why do we go to war?Why are we asked to destroy those who are our brothers and sisters?

This exhibition traces the lineage of protest in the printed image through the works of Jacques Callot, Francisco Goya, Otto Dix, Ernst Barlach and others. Together, their art reminds us that in the darkest of hours, the artist bears witness. Asking us to never look away and to always ask… why?

A note from the curator:

The exhibition Jacques Callot and Those Who Came After was a true labor of love—a collaborative endeavor by Wilson College students during the Fall of 2025. Research and writing were undertaken by students in Western Art History 1000–1800, while the Graphic Design II class developed the exhibition’s visual language and way-finding system, enhancing our experience of the powerful work and artifacts in the exhibition. Students in Typography and the Letterform built the catalog, and Digital Photography students contributed striking photographic elements that elevate the artifacts shown alongside works by Jacques Callot, Otto Dix, Francisco Goya, Ernst Barlach, and others.

By bringing together a multidisciplinary group of students from diverse backgrounds, we created an exhibition experience that is both rich and nuanced. Interdisciplinary thinking and collaboration lie at the very heart of a liberal arts education, and throughout the months of preparation leading up to the opening, this remarkable group of students embodied the very best of what can happen in the classroom—when learning is guided and considered by openness, curiosity, and a touch of romance. To say I am proud of them would be an understatement.

-Adam DelMarcelle, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design