Reflections on Master Drawings Week, New York

“Those who are not conversant in works of art are often surprised at the high value set by connoisseurs on drawings which appear careless, and in every respect unfinished; but they are truly valuable. . . they give the idea of a whole.”
Sir Joshua Reynolds

An artist, pedagogue, and collector, the incisive Reynolds knew well of what he spoke (although he was heard to protest when the asking price of a work on paper seemed in his estimation excessive). And the sentiments he expressed— which get to the heart of that seductive, often ineffable quality that instinctively draws those of a certain sensibility to the messy sketch, exploratory figure study, or primo pensiero, rather than to a varnished canvas or polished marble—have been shared by collectors, curators and connoisseurs before and since.

In referring to their seemingly careless and unfinished aspect, Reynolds alludes to the compelling sense of immediacy drawings often project—the direct view they seem to afford onto the private ruminations, creative calculations, and prodigious powers of invention (as well as the occasional infelicitous jottings) of their creators. And not unrelated to this energizing access to the mind of the artist is the thrill of discovery and the heady gratification offered by a mystery solved—who is this by? what is it for?—that art historians and collectors have experienced since the days of Giorgio Vasari and his Libro de’ disegni in the sixteenth century.

These myriad sensations—the pleasure of happening upon a new artist, or of encountering a familiar or beloved one in a different light; of being captivated by a drawing’s beauty or expressive power or rarity or masterful technique and then, if Fortuna permits, of successfully procuring that new-found treasure for one’s own collection or institution—are experienced and shared by all who follow the pilgrimage route of Master Drawings Week in New York each January. If we are perhaps no longer guided in this journey of education, delectation, and acquisition by the words of Reynolds, whose academic pronouncements have distanced him from our own day, we cannot but concur with the uncannily analogous sentiments expressed by another, more “modern” artist-collector, Degas, who remarked that “Drawing is the artist’s most direct and spontaneous expression, a species of writing: it reveals, better than does painting, his true personality.” Once again, for a brief, chilly week in New York, this timeless truth resounds.

Linda Wolk-Simon
Charles W. Engelhard Curator and Head of the Department of Drawings and Prints, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York