HARTFORD, CT (PNAN) – Going on view Thursday, January 16, 2025 at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is an exhibition assembled along thematic lines. “Paper, Color, Line” offers a rich overview of 500 years of draftsmanship in Europe, a collection of European drawings, watercolors and pastels rarely seen make up for this lively display from a variety of schools, techniques.
While the exhibition explores broader topics such as, artistic education, technical innovation, and the art market, it is centered on arresting works that convey the universal appeal of drawings as one of the most revealing expressions of the creative process.
Since the mid-nineteenth century, the museum has acquired by purchase and gift a diverse group of nearly 1,250 European drawings of impressive quality. This exhibition provides a unique survey of artists engaging with the medium over a span of more than five hundred years and showcases about sixty to seventy highlights on view for the first time in decades.
The museum’s holdings are particularly strong in works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Renowned drawings by Gustave Courbet, Edgar Degas, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec are included in “Paper, Color, Line” as well as highlights by Egon Schiele, Paul Klee, and Joan Miró.
The collection is additionally noted for its theatrical designs, particularly its material linked with the Ballets Russes, which encompasses sheets by Pablo Picasso, Léon Bakst, and Natalia Gontcharova.
Significant drawings from the Renaissance to the Rococo by artists such as Giorgio Vasari, Carlo Maratti, and Jean-Baptiste Greuze emphasize the timeless appeal of the medium and will complement the overview.
The first catalog devoted to European drawings will be published in conjunction with the exhibition which closed on April 27, 2025.. For current exhibits on view see: https://www.thewadsworth.org/explore/on-view.