Drawn from Artists' Collections

Drawn from Artists' Collections was a celebration of drawing through the eyes of artists. The impulse to draw exists in all cultures and throughout all periods, and drawing is frequently the most immediate transcription of an idea or feeling. As such, a drawing can be an end in itself or the foundation for further creative expression. In its connection to paper and the hand, drawing can be compared to writing, but the practice of drawing also serves to provide an expressive outlet beyond the limits of language. In recognition of the significance of drawing—its capacity to represent a common language of art that is nonetheless infinite in its permutations—many artists introduce to their studios and homes examples of the medium that are significant to them.

Organized by Ann Philbin and Jack Shear, Drawn from Artists' Collections presented drawings from the personal collections of eighteen contemporary artists: Georg Baselitz, Roger Brown, Eric Fischl, Helen Frankenthaler, Howard Hodgkin, Jasper Johns, Alex Katz, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Roy Lichtenstein, Brice Marden and Helen Marden, Elizabeth Murray, Ellen Phelan and Joel Shapiro, Ed Ruscha, Julian Schnabel, and Terry Winters. Selections for the exhibition were made from this collection of artists who had a special interest in drawing and whose own artworks would likely be familiar to the general public interested in contemporary art. This criterion allowed visitors to the exhibition to consider the lenders' artistic practices in light of the drawings they had collected. Included in the exhibition were drawings by the lenders' peers, both well-known and emerging, as well as their esteemed predecessors, suggesting a loose network of friendship, competition, and exchange that crossed the boundaries of period and style.