American Drawings and Watercolors in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1835

American Drawings and Watercolors in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1835

Avery, Kevin J., with an essay by Marjorie Shelley, contributions by Claire A. Conway, and catalogue entries by Kevin J. Avery, Carrie Rebora Barratt, Elliot Bostwick Davis, Tracie Felker, Stephanie L. Herdrich, and Karl Kusserow
2002
424 pages
581 illustrations
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The Metropolitan Museum began acquiring American drawings and watercolors in 1880, just ten years after its founding. Since then it has amassed more than 1,500 works executed by American artists during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in watercolor, pastel, chalk, ink, graphite, gouache, and charcoal. Roughly a third of the collection is by John Singer Sargent and was published as a single volume in 2000. The present volume is the first of two devoted to the Metropolitan's general collection. Documenting the draftmanship of more than 150 known artists born before 1835 and that of about 60 unidentified artists of the period, it includes drawings and watercolors by such American masters as John Singleton Copley, John Trumbull, John Vanderlyn, Thomas Cole, Asher Brown Drand, John Frederick Kensett, William Trost Richards, George Inness, and James Abbot McNeill Whistler. Because the 504 works illustrate such a wide range of media, techniques, and styles, Volume 1 is a veritable history of American drawing from the eighteenth through most of the nineteenth century. Volume 2 will extend the survey into the early twentieth century with works from the Museum's collection by American masters born between 1835 and 1876.

The introduction to this volume was written by Kevin J. Avery, Associate Curator in the Department of American Paintings and Sculpture. With zest and insight he traces the history of American drawings acquisitions at the Metropolitan, detailing its excitements, disappointments, and triumphs. His essay is illustrated with works selected from the Museum's entire collection, including some notable watercolors and pastels by Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and Mary Cassatt, which will be treated fully in Volume 2. The following essay, by Marjorie Shelley, Sherman Fairchild Conservator in Charge, Sherman Fairchild Center for Works on Paper and Photograph Conservation, illuminates the creation of the 504 works in the catalogue with a discussion of the tools and techniques used by draftsmen of the period. Shelley describes how artists learned to handle the various drawing media and how and where they obtained their equipment and supplies. She documents the many advances in technology that benefited the draftsman and the growing interest in outdoor sketching that popularized such novel conveniences as the folding easel, collapsible stool, and lightweight tin container for brushed and paints. Her chapter includes many delightful illustrations of artists' supplies from the dealers' catalogues and drawing books of the period.

The catalogue section of this volume features 106 of the Museum's choicest early American drawings and watercolors. These are reproduced in color and discussed in detail. A checklist follows of the complete collection, enriched by 432 additional illustrations in black and white and by brief biographies of all the artists represented in the catalogue.

Fishing Boats, Key West, Winslow Homer  American, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Winslow Homer
1903
The Brush House, Childe Hassam  American, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Childe Hassam
1916
The Strange Thing Little Kiosai Saw in the River, John La Farge  American, Watercolor and gouache on Japanese tissue laid down on white wove paper, American
John La Farge
1897
The Gross Clinic, Thomas Eakins  American, India ink and watercolor on cardboard, American
Thomas Eakins
1875–76
John Biglin in a Single Scull, Thomas Eakins  American, Watercolor on off-white wove paper, American
Thomas Eakins
ca. 1873
Mother Feeding Child, Mary Cassatt  American, Pastel on wove paper, mounted on canvas, American
Mary Cassatt
1898
Mrs. Edward Green (Mary Storer), John Singleton Copley  American, Pastel on laid paper, mounted on canvas, American
John Singleton Copley
1765
View through Poplars, Arthur B. Davies  American, Pastel on blue paper, American
Arthur B. Davies
Palm Tree, Nassau, Winslow Homer  American, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, American
Winslow Homer
1898
East Entrance, Room of Tiberius, Temple of Isis, Philae, Henry Roderick Newman  American, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, laid down on wove paper glued to a wooden strainer, American
Henry Roderick Newman
1905
A Basket of Clams, Winslow Homer  American, Watercolor on wove paper, American
Winslow Homer
1873
Lago Avernus, William Trost Richards  American, Watercolor, gouache, and graphite on blue wove paper, American
William Trost Richards
ca. 1867–70
Pierre Bacot, Henrietta Johnston  American, Pastel and red chalk on off-white laid paper, American
Henrietta Johnston
ca. 1708–10
Mrs. Pierre Bacot (Marianne Fleur Du Gue), Henrietta Johnston  American, Pastel and red and black chalk on toned laid paper., American
Henrietta Johnston
ca. 1708–10
Fraktur, Johann Heinrich Otto  American, Watercolor, pen and iron gall ink, and graphite on off-white laid paper, American
Johann Heinrich Otto
ca. 1770–1800
Ebenezer Storer, John Singleton Copley  American, Pastel on laid paper mounted on canvas, American
John Singleton Copley
ca. 1767–69
Study for "The Ascension", John Singleton Copley  American, Ink ("Bistre") washes, pen and ink, black chalk, and graphite on off-white laid paper, watercolor, American
John Singleton Copley
1774
Study for "The Siege of Gibraltar": Three Figures, John Singleton Copley  American, Black and red chalk on blue laid paper, American
John Singleton Copley
1785–86
Albert Gallatin, James Sharples  British, Pastel on light gray wove paper, American
James Sharples
ca. 1796
Mederic-Louis-Elie Moreau de Saint-Mery, James Sharples  British, Pastel and black chalk (or black pastel) on toned (now oxidized) wove paper, American
James Sharples
1798
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Avery, Kevin J. 2002. American Drawings and Watercolors in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York : New Haven: Metropolitan Museum of Art ; Yale University Press.