Impressionist & PostImpressionist Drawing

An unprecedented volume featuring over two hundred drawings by twenty Impressionist and PostImpressionist artists.Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne, Georges Seurat, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and their colleagues made some of the most beautiful drawings in the history of art. This book sets drawings by the impressionists and postimpressionists in the context of late nineteenthcentury France, explaining why these particular works are as important as these artists paintings in the representation of modernity.A new approach to materials and a wholly inclusive attitude to exhibitions elevated drawings status higher in this period than ever before, which avantgarde artists welcomed in their preference for scenes from contemporary life. For the first time, painting and drawing shared the same stylistic principles of spontaneity, freer handling, and lack of finish. Pastels by Degas, watercolors by Cezanne, penandink drawings by Van Gogh, and mixed media works by Henri de ToulouseLautrec have an autonomy of their own, which proved instrumental in the development of modern art. With short introductory essays on twenty of the leading Impressionist and PostImpressionist artists, each followed by a portfolio of their drawings, Impressionist & PostImpressionist Drawing highlights an aspect of French avantgarde art that was of immense importance for the art movements that followed. 200 illustrations