Color, line, light: French drawings, watercolors, and pastels from Delacroix to Signac

Abstract

Spanning the period from romanticism to neo-impressionism, this book reveals the extraordinary richness, diversity, and inventiveness that fueled a remarkably creative period of French drawing--called "the paper century" in the opening essay. Brilliant drawings, watercolors, and pastels by Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, and Georges Seurat as well as by many of their peers allow for a close inspection of such key nineteenth-century artistic movements as romanticism, realism, impressionism, the art of the Nabis and symbolists, and neo-impressionism.

Contents

The paper century : French drawing in the 1800s / Richard R. Brettell -- The romantic impulse / Victor Carlson -- Rendering reality : the natural landscape and everyday life / Margaret Morgan Grasselli -- Impressionist drawings / Marina Ferretti Bocquillon -- The Nabis and Symbolists / Elizabeth Easton -- Neo-Impressionist drawings / Marina Ferretti Bocquillon.