October 4, 2017----- January 7, 2018
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Leonardo to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Robert Lehman Collection,
on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning October 4, presents
60 masterpieces of European drawing spanning the Renaissance to the
Modern age. It is the first presentation to highlight the full range of
Robert Lehman's vast and distinguished drawings collection------ numbering over 700 sheets------
and to explore his significant activity as a 20th-century collector.
The exhibition will trace the development of European drawing across
five centuries through works by such celebrated masters such as Leonardo
da Vinci, Dürer, Rembrandt, Tiepolo, Ingres, Seurat, and Matisse.
The exhibition is made possible by the Robert Lehman Foundation. |
Drawn
from the Museum's acclaimed Robert Lehman Collection, the exhibition
will present a dynamic array of styles, techniques, and genres—from
compositional studies for mythological and biblical narratives to
panoramic landscapes and arresting studies of the human form. The
selection will also illustrate the different facets of the artists'
creative processes—from Leonardo's keen anatomical observation in his Study of a Bear Walking, to Dürer's awakening artistic self-consciousness in his Self-Portrait study, to Rembrandt's re-interpretation of Leonardo's painted masterpiece, The Last Supper.
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The selection of drawings on view in Leonardo to Matisse will
reflect significant developments in the medium between the 15th and
20th centuries, as styles, techniques, and genres evolved, evoking
illuminating comparisons across regions and eras. The portraits, figure studies,
landscapes,
mythological and biblical narratives included in the exhibition will
represent diverse sacred and secular subjects in media ranging from
metalpoint, pen and ink, and chalk to graphite, pastel, and charcoal.
The role
of drawing as the foundation of all the visual arts will be illustrated
by numerous preparatory studies for painting, sculpture, textiles,
engraving, and stained glass, including rare 15th century Netherlandish
designs for a carved capital and tapestry. Elucidating the varying
stages of the design process, the works on view will include rapid
preliminary sketches, detailed studies of motifs, expansive
compositional designs, and finished drawings intended for patrons.
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The Robert Lehman Collection
Robert
Lehman bought his first drawings in the 1920s, adding works on paper to
his father's distinguished painting collection. He began with rare
sheets by Italian masters and continued to acquire
drawings for the next half century, principally in the field of Italian
art, but more expansively through examples from England, France, the
Netherlands, Spain, and the United States.
By
his death in 1969, the drawings collection numbered more than 700
sheets. While a few examples found their way into other public
institutions in his lifetime, the remaining sheets form part of the
Robert Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum. Together with the
holdings in the Department of Drawings and Prints, it has granted the
Museum an outstanding collection of works on paper.
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The Robert Lehman Collection is one
of the most distinguished privately assembled art collections in the
United States. Robert Lehman's bequest to The Met, a collection of
extraordinary quality and breadth acquired over the course of 60 years,
is a remarkable example of 20th-century American collecting. Spanning
700 years of western European art, from the 14th to the 20th century,
the 2,600 works include paintings, drawings, manuscript illumination,
sculpture, glass, textiles, antique frames, maiolica, enamels, and
precious jeweled objects.
Leonardo to Matisse is organized by Dita
Amory, Curator in Charge, and Alison Nogueira, Associate Curator, both
of the Robert Lehman Collection at The Met.
"Conversation: Collecting Drawing," an Education program to accompany the exhibition on October 29, will consider the legacy of Robert Lehman.
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Leonardo da Vinci. Italian, Vinci 1452-1519 Amboise. A Bear Walking, ca. 1482-85. silverpoint on light buff prepared paper; 4 1/16 x 5 1/4 in. (10.3 x 13.3 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.369)
Albrecht Dürer. German, Nuremberg 1471-1528 Nuremberg.
 Self-portrait, Study of a Hand and a Pillow (recto);  Six Studies of Pillows (verso), 1493. Pen and brown ink; 10 15/16 x 7 15/16 in. (27.8 x 20.2 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.86) 
Vincent van Gogh. Dutch, Zundert 1853-1890 Auvers-sur-Oise. Road in Etten,1881. Chalk, pencil, pastel, watercolor. Underdrawing in pen and brown ink. 15 1/2 x 22 3/4 in. (39.4 x 57.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975 (1975.1.774)
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