Drawing Near: Contemporary Drawings from the Permanent Collection
May 17, 2009 -- October 18, 2009
Sidney H. Yarbrough III Gallery

The Columbus Museum’s American drawing collection is among the finest in the country. The works embody the complex character, dynamic spirit and innovative ideas that have shaped American art and culture.  The Museum defines drawing as any unique work on paper, and Drawing Near: Contemporary Drawings from the Permanent Collection includes a variety of media, including pencil, charcoal, watercolor, gouache, pastel, ink and monotype.  While drawings are frequently made as preliminary sketches for a painting or sculpture, most of the pieces in this exhibition are finished works of art in their own right. 

The works featured in Drawing Near represent drawing as a unique and diverse medium.  Steven Assael’sacademic training is evident in his masterful rendering of anatomy and the play of light across the torso in Michael (2000, crayon and graphite on paper). The identity and humanity of the sitter is of great importance to Assael.  Wolf Kahn uses simple but sophisticated forms and colors in Last Glow II (1992, monotype on paper).  He has chosen landscape as his subject because it is always timely, being little affected by fashion or politics. Beth Caspar specializes in abstract drawings that resemble random drips and stains.  Dos-I-Do 8 (2004, graphite on white wove paper) began as a series of precisely traced geometric shapes, such as circles and curves, which were then carefully blended and transformed by erasing, overlapping and shading.

Contemporary drawing has been energized by the huge range of images generated from electronic means, such as photography, film and computer technology. Unlike these media forms, however, drawings are unique, or one-of-a-kind, works of art. The simplicity of the materials and immediacy of drawing make the process the most direct representation of an artist’s thoughts and actions.

This exhibition is made possible by the generous support of The J. DuPont Kirven, Jr. Charitable Lead Unitrust Fund.

Michael (detail), 2000, crayon and graphite on paper, 18½ x 121/8 inches, Steven Assael, born New York, N.Y. 1957, Gift of Thornton and Sue Jordan    2006.1