Delacroix Drawings: The Karen B. Cohen Collection

Dunn, Ashley E., with contributions by Colta Ives and Marjorie Shelley (2018)

This title is in print.

Publication Details

Description

Known as the master of French Romanticism for his energetic paintings, Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) was also a consummate draftsman. Yet his drawings remained largely unknown to the public during his lifetime. Beginning with a posthumous studio sale in 1864, however, these drawings have been sought after and widely appreciated for the incomparable insight they afford into the artist’s process.

This handsome book, one of the few to explore the topic in depth, provides new insight into Delacroix’s drawing practice, paying particular attention to his methods and the ways in which he pushed the boundaries of the medium. It showcases a selection of more than one hundred drawings, many of which have been rarely seen, from Karen B. Cohen’s world-renowned collection. The works highlighted here range from finished watercolors to sketches, from copies after old masters and popular prints to drawings preparatory to many of Delacroix’s most important painting and print projects. Illustrated with a wealth of comparative images, the book examines the essential role of drawing in the artist’s formation and aesthetic practice, while two shorter texts trace the history of the collecting of Delacroix’s work at the Metropolitan Museum and present important new research on his materials and techniques.

Table of contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Delacroix as a Draftsman
Through the Lens of the Karen B. Cohen Collection
Ashley E. Dunn

Plates

Delacroix at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Colta Ives

Line and Color
The Drawing Practices of Delacroix
Marjorie Shelley

Notes

Checklist

Selected Bibliography

Index

Photograph Credits

About the authors

Ashley E. Dunn is Assistant Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Colta Ives is Curator Emerita in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Marjorie Shelley is Sherman Fairchild Conservator in Charge in the Department of Paper Conservation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Related Titles

Titles by thematic category (292)

European Art in the 19th Century

Titles by author (50)

Ashley E. Dunn

Colta Feller Ives

Marjorie Shelley

Related Content

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (5)

Essays (4)

The Aesthetic of the Sketch in Nineteenth-Century France

Lithography in the Nineteenth Century

The Print in the Nineteenth Century

Romanticism

Timelines (1)

France, 1800–1900 A.D.

Exhibition

Devotion to Drawing: The Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix

July 17–November 12, 2018

Renowned as a giant of French Romantic painting, Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) was equally a dedicated and an innovative draftsman. Through a selection of more than one hundred works on paper—from finished watercolors to sketchbooks, from copies after old master prints to preparatory drawings for important projects—this exhibition will explore the central role of drawing in Delacroix's practice.

The exhibition will celebrate a major gift to The Met from Karen B. Cohen, an Honorary Trustee and longtime supporter of the Museum, of her renowned collection of drawings by Delacroix. Assembled with an eye to the artist's process, the collection highlights the ways in which drawing shaped Delacroix's artistic development throughout his career; his application of the medium in the preparation of prints, paintings, and public decorative programs; and his investment in the expressive potential of his materials. As the first North American exhibition devoted to Delacroix's drawings in more than fifty years, it will introduce a new generation to the artist's draftsmanship.

Accompanied by a catalogue.

The exhibition is made possible by The Schiff Foundation.

The catalogue is made possible in part by The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.