American Drawings and Watercolors in The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Volume 1: A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born before 1835

by Kevin J. Avery; With an essay by Marjorie Shelley and contributions by Claire A.Conway; Catalogue entries by Kevin J. Avery, Carrie Rebora Barratt, Elliot Bostwick Davis, Tracie Felker, Stephanie L. Herdrich, and Karl Kusserow

• ISBN13: 9780300093728
• ISBN10: 0300093721
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2002-09-10
• Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Summary

The Metropolitan Museum of Art began acquiring American drawings in 1880 and has since amassed a spectacular collection of more than 1,400 works in watercolor, pastel, ink, graphite, chalk, and charcoal. This beautifully produced catalogue, the first volume in a series devoted to the museum's rich holdings, presents works by artists born before 1835, including such great American artists as John Singleton Copley, Thomas Cole, George Inness, and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

In his introduction, Kevin J. Avery describes the acquisitions history of American drawings at the Metropolitan from 1880 to the present day. Marjorie Shelley writes on the materials and techniques used by American draftsmen from the eighteenth century until about 1875. The catalogue section of the book features 106 of the Museum's choicest drawings and watercolors, discussed in detail and reproduced in color. A checklist follows of the museum's complete collection of early works on paper, with black-and-white illustrations of 430 additional works and brief artist biographies.

Table of Contents

Director's Foreword	vii
Preface	ix
Morrison H. Heckscher
Acknowledgments	xi
A History of the Metropolitan Museum's Collection of American Drawings	2	(26)
Kevin J. Avery
The Craft of American Drawing: Early Eighteenth to Late Nineteenth Century	28	(51)
Marjorie Shelley
CATALOGUE	79	(291)
Reader's Guide to the Catalogue	80	(2)
A Selection of Principal Works	82	(207)
Checklist	289	(81)
Bibliography	370	(14)
Concordance	384	(9)
Index	393	(15)
Photograph Credits	408