A rare look at the exceptional works on paper from private collections by the master of modern art. “There’s nothing more difficult than a line.” –Pablo Picasso Picasso: Seven Decades of Drawing surveys Pablo Picasso’s prodigious career as a draftsman, including over 40 examples on loan from private collections spanning nearly 70 years of the artist’s long and celebrated career. The book showcases drawings in a wide range of media, from works in charcoal and crayon to colored pencil, collage or papiers collés, graphite, gouache, ink, pastel, and watercolor. Some of the drawings on loan are rarely on view and they provide insight into the evolution of his iconic paintings, such as Les Demoiselles d’Avignon and Guernica, while others stand alone as virtuoso, independent works, highlighting Picasso’s mastery of line, form, and medium. The book ultimately examines how drawing serves as the vital thread connecting all of Picasso’s art.

The Baltimore Museum of Art's collection of early drawings and watercolors by Picasso. Seven works have never before been published.

Published in conjunction with an exhibition organized by and presented at The Art Institute of Chicago, Sept. 25, 2010-Jan. 2, 2011.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Picasso: Themes and Variations" held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y., Mar. 24-Sept. 6, 2010.

A fresh perspective on the importance of Picasso's drawing practice and how he used his materials and graphic techniques to reinterpret past traditions and invigorate his art

The first book on the drawings and works on paper of this legendary cult artist. Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name, Jean-Michel Basquiat Drawing is the first book on the Schorr Collection of Basquiat’s works on paper. Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) was barely out of his teens when he rocketed to the center of New York’s art scene; he was 27 when he died of a heroin overdose. A friend of Keith Haring and Andy Warhol, and always controversial, Basquiat is now established as a major contemporary painter whose unique work continues to enthrall. Herbert and Lenore Schorr began collecting the work of Basquiat in 1981, before his first New York exhibition. During the artist’s seminal years of 1982–83, the Schorrs acquired several of his most important paintings, but in contrast to virtually every other early collector, the Schorrs also pursued and acquired a great number of works on paper both directly from the artist and from his first dealer. Their collection demonstrates the focus and ambition that the artist invested in the medium of drawing.