Accompanying an exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art last fall and now at the Dahesh Museum in New York, this catalog focuses upon the French drawings in Muriel Butkin's highly specialized collection which she has promised to the Cleveland Museum. To assemble her diverse yet nicely integrated set of drawings, Butkin started buying 18th-century French drawings when they were affordable. In the mid-1970s, with the guidance of art historian Gabriel Weisberg, she expanded her collection to include 19th-century French drawings. These drawings were counter to the mainstream impressionist and postimpressionist taste of the time and focused more on academic French subject matter such as life drawings, portraits, or compositional studies. In the preface, Butkin herself reinforces her taste by saying that drawings are much more personal and spontaneous than paintings, often demonstrating the artistic process. Foster, curator of drawings at the Cleveland Museum, and other scholars present a well-researched volume that contributes new information to a very specialized field of art history. It is greatly disappointing, however, that the bulk of the reproductions are in black and white, often missing the subtly colored tones in many of the drawings. Nonetheless, this is recommended for museum and academic libraries that support graduate programs in art history. 183 b/w illustrations

"Accompanying an exhibition in honor of Philippe de Montebello, Director Emeritus of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this engaging book examines the influence of music and theater on the art of Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). Fifteen major paintings and a number of drawings by Watteau that illustrate the connections between painting and the performing arts in Paris are explored. In addition, drawings and prints by other 18th-century artists featuring musical or theatrical subjects and objects and musical instruments are included."--Publisher description.

While earlier studies have focused predominantly on artist François Boucher’s artistic style and identity, this book presents the first full-length interdisciplinary study of Boucher’s prolific collection of around 13,500 objects including paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, porcelain, shells, minerals, and other imported curios. It discusses the types of objects he collected, the networks through which he acquired them, and their spectacular display in his custom-designed studio at the Louvre, where he lived and worked for nearly two decades. This book explores the role his collection played in the development of his art, his studio, his friendships, and the burgeoning market for luxury goods in mid-eighteenth-century France. In doing so, it sheds new light on the relationship between Boucher’s artistic and collecting practices, which attracted both praise and criticism from period observers. The book will appeal to scholars working in art history, museum studies, and French history.

This first comprehensive presentation of this collection from the Cleveland Museum of Art, includes paintings by Monet, Degas, Renoir, Boudin and Manet among other innovative artists of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist period. Each painting is presented with descriptions detailing the artist's motifs and context of the work in the Impressionist era. The title, with its essays and over 100 colour plates, provides a thorough focus of the dramatic artistic development of the century between 1850 and 1950 through the remarkable pieces of this collection. 100 colour Illustrations

A curator of Dutch drawings at the Albertina surveys the work of Rembrandt, Jacob van Ruisdael, Meindert Hobbema, Philips Koninck, and others, presenting the various forms of art that dominated the scene in seventeenth-century Holland. 112 colour illustrations

New York-based artist Peggy Preheim is known for her minutely detailed, miniscule graphite drawings on otherwise blank sheets of paper, creating a mood and atmosphere specific to her work. Her drawings are influenced by the small sixteenth century panel paintings of the Low Countries, while their lush black-and-white tonalities evoke early found photographs on which they are often based. Published on the occasion of Preheim's first retrospective, which originates at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Connecticut, this monograph is the artist's first and features rich reproductions of works from throughout her 20-year career, including sculpture and photography. Noted designer Daphne Geismar's elegant design perfectly captures the uncanny qualities of Preheim's style. The volume includes essays by curator Carter Foster and critic Gregory Volk, as well as a collection of poems and imaginary letters written in response to selected works by Aldrich Director Harry Philbrick. Published in collaboration with The Aldrich.

EDMOND LACHENAL AND HIS LEGACY documents the shifting styles of this important French Ceramists and also the styles of his contemporaries. With over 183 colour plates, the publication extends not only to the work of his master, Theodore Deck, but also includes pieces by some of his disciples, his sons Raoul and Jean-Jacques Lachenal, and his assisstant Emile Decoeur. This first ever presentation of Lachenal's career includes scholarly essays, period photographs and thoughtful descriptions of each of the 71 pieces represented. Placing the work of Lachenal in context with his peers and followers reveals not only the rich artistic culture in which he lived and worked, but also the series of subtle transitions that evolved in French ceramics from the middle of the 19th century until after the Second World War. ILLUSTRATIONS: 190 colour & 25 b/w