The Essential Line: Drawings From the Dahesh Museum of Art

The Dahesh Museum of Art, in conjunction with Syracuse University, currently has a fantastic show of academic figure, cast and narrative drawings displayed at the Lubin House/Palitz Gallery in Manhattan. The Dahesh graciously extended an invitation to the opening reception to students of the GCA, which proved to be very worthwhile.

The show is small, however it is made up of quite a few excellent drawings. The works ranged from initial concept sketches by Alma-Tadema all the way to a fully-rendered Bonnat piece entitled "Jacob Wrestling with the Angel."

 The initial concept sketches by Prix de Rome winners were also very informative concerning the process of beginning a genre painting, and I personally found the sketched studies of Moroccan men by Georges Clairin to be truly inspirational.

For those of you who do not live in NYC or otherwise cannot make it to the show, you can see many of the works featured on the Dahesh website: http://www.daheshmuseum.org/collection/workspaper.php .
However, if you do live in or near Manhattan, I highly recommend attending the exhibition. It is not often that 19th century drawings come on display, and there is a lot to be learned simply from viewing these works.