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Master Drawings

Master Drawings is the leading international periodical for the study of drawings from the fourteent Master Drawings Association, Inc.

is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in the State of New York on March 16, 1962, for the purpose of disseminating knowledge in the field of Western draftsmanship since the Renaissance. Its mission is fulfilled mainly through the publication of the subscription-based, academic quarterly Master Drawings, which was launched in 1963. The founding Editor was the late Felice Stampfle, Curator o

f Drawings and Prints at the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the first Associate Editors were the late Jacob Bean, Curator of Drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, who is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Master Drawings aspires to be the leading international periodical for the study of drawings from the fourteenth century to the present day in Europe and the Americas. Edited to the highest academic standards, it seeks to present the best and most important new research in a clear, elegant, and accessible format. The journal is primarily concerned with the publication of newly discovered material, significant reattributions, and fresh interpretations. Each issue, extensively illustrated with high-quality color and black-and-white images, consists of approximately 144 pages of articles, notes, exhibition and book reviews, as well as trade advertising. Other features, such as interviews with living artists and essays about historical collectors or collections, are intended to foster a sense of continuity between the pre-modern and modern eras. The journal’s target readership is a diverse and interrelated constituency of international curators, academics, students, collectors, and dealers. The language of the quarterly is English, but submissions are encouraged from a broad range of specialists throughout the world, mainly Europe and the Americas. may hold events that advance its mission and promote contact and collaboration within all sectors of the international drawings community. In light of changing research patterns in a digital age, the Board of Directors is committed to maintaining an online presence for the journal in order to increase its accessibility by making past content available through internet archiving programs.

11/27/2025

As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, MASTER DRAWINGS is grateful for the enthusiasm and interest of our readers and subscribers. You inspire us to continue delivering significant drawings scholarship from the Renaissance to present day. Over the holiday weekend, catch up on past articles you may have missed. To order and download go to https://masterdrawings.org/issues/

(Image: Jacques André Portail, “The Benediction,” red and black chalk, touches of brush and gray wash, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

11/24/2025

The 2024 exhibition “Walton Ford: Birds and Beasts of the Studio,” at our partner institution, the Morgan Library & Museum, is thoughtfully analyzed by J. Cabelle Ahn in the current issue of MASTER DRAWINGS (Vol. 63, no. 3).

The exhibit focused on sixty drawings gifted to the museum in 2019. “Together, Ford’s selections situated his own drawings as the culmination of a long lineage of artists who have taken depictions of domestic and wild animals as either their primary métier or as temporary subjects to expand their artistic processes,” notes Ahn, an independent art historian.

Subscribe now (https://masterdrawings.org/subscribe/)! Remember, you can access your issue from anywhere by reading MASTER DRAWINGS online: our digital platform is FREE with your individual subscription.

(Image: Walton Ford, “AMNH Coyote Study 2, ca. 2015,” The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, © 2025 Walton Ford)

11/22/2025

“Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson,” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, features over 100 artworks made over the course of Wilson’s career, including drawings, prints, paintings, and sculpture, as well as illustrations for children’s books and archival material. The exhibition, on view until February 8, 2026, is the largest presentation of the artist's work and his first solo museum show in New York. His subjects include racial violence, labor, the writings of Richard Wright, the Civil Rights Movement, street scenes, and intimate images of family life, with a particular focus on fatherhood. Included are maquettes and works on paper for two of Wilson’s most celebrated works—his sculpture of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the U.S. Capitol and the monumental sculpture “Eternal Presence.”

(Image: John Wilson, Study for the mural "The Incident” opaque and transparent watercolor, ink, and graphite, Yale University Art Gallery, Courtesy of the Estate of John Woodrow Wilson / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

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11/20/2025

“Jazz Age Illustration,” at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Lenox MA, features over 100 works from the Delaware Art Museum’s expansive illustration collection and features artists such as Aaron Douglas, John Held Jr., Jay Jackson, and Frank E. Schoonover. On view until April 6, 2026, it is the first major survey of popular illustration in the United States between 1919 and 1942 with an exploration of cultural and social themes.

(Image: Jay Jackson, “Etta Moten Barnett Dancing for American Negro Exposition,
1940,” watercolor, ink, and charcoal on paper, Delaware Art Museum, © Estate of Jay
Paul Jackson)

11/18/2025

Read in the current issue of MASTER DRAWINGS (Vol. 63, no.3) one of the most in-depth reviews ever published in this journal. New York University Professor Pepe Karmel delves into “Picasso: Drawing Without End” at the Centre Pompidou; a huge, complex, andcompelling showcase of works on paper by the artist. “Picasso does not represent the world but recreates it. The 850 drawings and prints at the Pompidou were just barely enough to demonstrate the titanic dimensions of his achievement,” notes Karmel in his article.

Two publications accompanied the exhibition; Subscribe now (https://masterdrawings.org/subscribe/) and read why Professor Karmel
calls the album, in particular, “a small masterpiece.”

Remember, you can access your issue from anywhere by reading MASTER DRAWINGS online: our digital platform is FREE with your individual subscription.

(Pablo Picasso, “Portrait of Françoise, 1946 Paris,” Musée National
Picasso © RMN Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY © 2025 Estate of Pablo Picasso /
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York)

11/16/2025

Applications are now being accepted for the biennial Morgan-Menil Fellowship (2026-27). Awarded by our partner institutions, the Morgan Library & Museum (New York), and the Menil Collection (Houston), to a fellow for three-to-nine-months to support independent projects on some aspect of the history, theory, interpretation, or cultural meaning of drawing throughout the history of art. Preference will be given to projects that would benefit from the resources of the Morgan Library & Museum and the Menil Collection.

The Morgan-Menil Research Fellow is expected to spend part of the fellowship period in residence at the Morgan Library & Museum and another part at the Menil Collection. The majority of the Fellow’s time will be spent on the research project for which the fellowship is awarded, but the Fellow is expected to participate fully in the intellectual life of the Morgan and the Menil and to attend Drawing Institute programs during their tenure at each institution.
The Fellow will make a presentation on their research during the time of the fellowship at both institutions.

Application deadline is December 15, 2025. To apply go to: https://themorgan.org/opportunities/drawing-institute-application

(Image: Paul Cézanne, “Still Life with Pears and Apples, Covered Blue Jar, and a Bottle of Wine,”
watercolor over graphite, the Morgan Library & Museum, New York)

11/15/2025

“Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor,” at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, features dozens of the museum’s watercolors alongside a selection of related oils, drawings, and prints by the artist. The MFA houses the largest collection of Homer’s watercolors, though they have not been displayed together in nearly half a century because of the works’ fragility and sensitivity to light. Material ranges from Homer’s childhood drawings all the way to his final canvas, left unfinished at the time of his death. The exhibition, on view until January 19, 2026, follows major chapters in Homer’s career, looking at the various environments, ecological, artistic, social, and economic, that shaped his work in watercolor.

(Image: Winslow Homer, “Leaping Trout,” watercolor over graphite pencil on paper, Museum of Fine Arts Boston)

11/13/2025

Our partner institution, The Menil Drawing Institute in Houston, Texas, is accepting applications for an important Pre-Doctoral Fellowship for the 2026–2027 academic year. It is open to American and international researchers who work in fields pertaining to modern and contemporary drawing practices. Applications are due December 15, 2025.

The Menil Drawing Institute’s fellowship program fosters the highest level of scholarship and makes possible rich, interdisciplinary, object-based conversations on the drawing medium’s history, theory, criticism, and practice. Fellows receive housing and a stipend to cover living and other expenses incurred during the 9-month fellowship (September to June). Application materials and inquiries should be submitted to [email protected]

More information about the Menil Drawing Institute’s fellowship program can be found here: : https://www.menil.org/menil-drawing-institute-pre-doctoral-fellowship

(Image: Paul Cézanne, “Mount Cengle (Le Mont Cengle),” pencil and watercolor on paper, the Menil Collection, Houston)

11/11/2025

A poignant overview of the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition and catalogue “Käthe Kollwitz” is presented by Kollwitz specialist Dr. Annette Seeler in the current issue of MASTER DRAWINGS (Vol. 63, no. 3).

Subscribe now (https://masterdrawings.org/subscribe/) and read why Seeler believes the catalogue “was a lasting tribute to the international fame of this honored artist.”

Remember, you can access your issue from anywhere by reading MASTER DRAWINGS online: our digital platform is FREE with your individual subscription.

(Image: Käthe Kollwitz, “Beim Dengeln (Sharpening the Scythe),” Plate 3 from Bauernkreig (Peasants’ War), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco)

11/10/2025

“Learning to Draw,” at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, explores artistic training and the mastery of drawing in Europe from the sixteenth- to the nineteenth-century. On view through January 25, 2026, the exhibition features 32 drawings, primarily from the Getty Museum’s collection, that showcase how students sought to acquire the fundamental skill of drawing. Highlighted are the sequence of exercises that came to underpin drawing instruction over the centuries: Drawing from Art; Drawing from Life; and Drawing from Landscape. The exhibit includes a sketching table where visitors can try their hand at drawing (materials provided) and a space to display their creations at the gallery entrance.

(Image: Guercino (Giovanni Francesco Barbieri), “Seated Young Man,”
oiled charcoal heightened with white chalk on gray-brown paper, Getty Museum, Los Angeles)

11/08/2025

“Jean-Baptiste Greuze: Childhood illuminated,” at the Petit Palais - Fine Arts Museum of Paris, pays tribute to the artist on the 300th anniversary of his birth. On view until January 25, 2026, the exhibit uses the prism of childhood through which to examine this theme. There are approximately one hundred works of art, on loan from an international group of museums and private collections, which depict children through portraits, expressive head studies, or genre scenes, from early childhood to the beginnings of adulthood.

(Image: Jean-Baptiste Greuze, “Head of a Boy,” red chalk on cream laid paper, Private Collection)

11/06/2025

Join artist Lisa Yuskavage on Wednesday, November 19 from 6-7:30pm in a live broadcast from her exhibition, “Lisa Yuskavage: Drawings,” at our partner institution, the Morgan Library & Museum. She will discuss her work with contemporaries: Jarrett Earnest, Sarah Sze, and Matvey Levenstein.

The talk, taking place online, is free but advanced registration is required. Registrants will receive a link via email on the day of the program.
To register, go to: https://www.themorgan.org/programs/creative-insights-lisa-yuskavage-and-friends-online

(Image: Lisa Yuskavage, “Leg, 2002,” Conté crayon on painted paper, Private Collection © Lisa Yuskavage. Courtesy the artist and David Zwirner)
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