Rarely seen drawings by 64 masters, including Braque, CZzanne, Degas, Gauguin, Hugo, Klee, Manet, Matisse, Modigliani, Mondrian, Monet, Munch, Picasso, Renoir, Rodin, Rubens, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh and Watteau, are reproduced in this exceptional collection. Victor Chan provides a full biographical sketch of the individual masters and discusses their art.

Based on research, and grounded in experience, this book offers a view into the minds and hearts of people who draw. With technology at our fingertips that allows us to record and share what we see within moments, drawing seems a remarkably slow and difficult way to make an image. And yet, drawing from observation continues to be practiced by professional and amateur artists, a situation that invites the question: What does observation drawing mean in the lives of those who practice it? The central chapters of the book explicate the structures of the lived experience of drawing, weaving phenomenological reflections into a narrative about the author drawing her sister on a train. With lively accounts of drawing from hobbyists, art students, contemporary and historical artists, Montgomery-Whicher considers how the act of drawing shapes place, time, the body and relationships with the world and with others. She addresses many facets of drawing, including the connection between drawing and thinking, the range of emotions felt when drawing a person and the experience of digital drawing. Montgomery-Whicher concludes that observation drawing warrants a place in general education as well as in the education of artists. She argues that drawing will continue to thrive because it is a human practice that deepens and enriches our humanity by giving us access to keener perception, greater understanding, empathy and wonder. This book will be of interest to anyone who has ever wondered about the appeal of drawing, including professional and amateur artists, philosophers, and educators.

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

Although his popularity is eclipsed by Rembrandt today, Peter Paul Rubens was revered by his contemporaries as the greatest painter of his era, if not of all history. His undeniable artistic genius, bolstered by a modest disposition and a reputation as a man of tact and discretion, made him a favorite among monarchs and political leaders across Europe—and gave him the perfect cover for the clandestine activities that shaped the landscape of seventeenth-century politics. In Master of Shadows, Mark Lamster brilliantly recreates the culture, religious conflicts, and political intrigues of Rubens’s time, following the painter from Antwerp to London, Madrid, Paris, and Rome and providing an insightful exploration of Rubens’s art as well as the private passions that influenced it.

This exhibition highlights more than 150 master drawings from the Thaw Collection, one of the world?s finest private collections containing over 400 sheets. Assembled over the last fifty years, and made a promised gift to the Morgan in 1975, the collection has now been given in full to the museum by Life Trustee Eugene V. Thaw and his wife, Clare. 'Drawn to Greatness' focuses on pivotal artists and key moments in the history of draftsmanship. Works by major masters from the Renaissance to the modern era will be on view, including Mantegna, Rubens, Rembrandt, Canaletto, Piranesi, Watteau, Fragonard, Goya, Ingres, Turner, Daumier, Redon, Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Pollock. 00Exhibition: Morgan Library and Museum, New York, USA (29.09.2017-07..01.2018) / Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, USA (03.02.-29.04.2018).

This book gives an excellent overview of Flemish art from the Hermitage in St Petersburg. A large proportion was acquired in the eighteenth century by Catherine the Great, from superb collections such as those of Crozat and Brühl, which she bought up in their entirety. Many of these paintings originally hung in churches and monasteries in Antwerp and other European cities. Most attention focuses on the 'big three': Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens. Rubens was the most important, the most talented, and the most influential seventeenth-century Flemish painter. He was also a phenomenon in his day, a true homo universalis. The portraits produced by Van Dyck for the court of King Charles I of England also share the limelight, along with impressive history paintings by Jordaens, exuding the vibrant atmosphere in which he excelled. Exhibition: De Nieuwe Kerk - Hermitage, Amsterdam, 17.9.2011 to 16.3.2012.

The Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich houses one of the finest and most famous collections of drawings and prints in Germany, with holdings of around 400,000 works ranging from the fifteenth century to modernity. Published to accompany an exhibition at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York, 100 Master Drawings from Munich comprises lush full-color illustrations of over one hundred of the museum's works of art. Demonstrating the impressive depth and breadth of works owned by the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, the works in this volume range from rough preparatory sketches to meticulously executed studies and encompass a variety of media, including silverpoint, chalk, ink, and aquarelle. Among the many extraordinary pieces are Old Dutch and German prints, nineteenth-century German drawings, and works by Dürer and Rembrandt. But equally not to be missed are the many compelling works of contemporary graphic art for which the museum is best known.

An engaging survey of a renowned collection of drawings that includes work by artists from Guercino and Hendrick Goltzius to Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Jaume Plensa One of America's foremost art dealers, Richard Gray--along with his wife, the art historian Mary L. Gray--amassed a remarkable collection of drawings, paintings, and sculpture representing 700 years of Western art. Offering an in-depth look at the Gray Collection's drawings, this volume highlights 36 exceptional works that range from the 15th through the 20th century by artists such as Paolo Veronese, François Boucher, Auguste Rodin, Jackson Pollock, and Tadao Ando. Entries by scholars from a variety of fields provide new perspectives on individual drawings and discuss the ways in which they reflect changes in artistic practice and the evolution of draftsmanship. This handsome publication also features the guest book from the Richard Gray Gallery, a fascinating historical document adorned with drawings and salutations from the likes of Susan Sontag, Ellsworth Kelly, and Tom Wolfe.

Rubens is undoubtedly the most influential Flemish painter. Through reproductions in print, his compositions had an immense impact, even during his lifetime. Himself indebted to Titian, Rubens became a role model to Van Dyck, Rembrandt and Velázquez, and influenced artists well beyond his time, including figures such as Cézanne, Picasso, Bacon and Freud. This stunning new volume explores Rubens's legacy thematically, through a series of sections devoted to Violence, Power, Lust, Compassion, Elegance and Poetry. Illustrating some of the artists' most famous paintings alongside great works that bear his influence, each section will link artists across the centuries in their references to Rubens, from Van Dyck and Watteau to Manet, Daumier, Renoir and Van Gogh, as well as Gainsborough, Constable and Turner. AUTHOR: Tim Barringer is Paul Mellon Professor of the History of Art at Yale University. Arturo Galansino is curator at the Royal Academy of Arts, London. Gerlinde Gruber is curator for Flemish Baroque paintings at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Nico van Hout is a member of the collections research team at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp. David Howarth is professor of history of art at the University of Edinburgh. Alexis Merle du Bourg is an art historian and a Rubens specialist. SELLING POINTS: * Rubens is internationally recognised as one of the most influential artists of all time * This book explores the important themes he addressed in his art, and the great sway his work held over later artists 216 colour