Revealing the Monet of Pencil and Paper

NY Times ^ | January 17, 2007 | CAROL VOGEL

[Pharmboy]

Photographs from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
“Étretat, the Needle Rock and Porte d’Aval,” a Monet pastel on tan paper from
about 1885.

Photographs from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
“Bank of the Seine,” a Monet pastel on tan paper from about 1869. Monet rarely mentioned his hundreds
of drawings, preferring to be known only as a painter.

Photographs from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
A study of sailboats and a harbor dating from the 1860s.

Photographs from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
A pastel of the Waterloo Bridge in London from about 1901.

Photographs from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
An 1883 drawing of Rouen by Monet.

Photographs from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
A drawing of a woman in red chalk from the 1890s.

Claude Monet will forever be known for his dreamy Impressionist canvases of grain stacks and cathedrals, the seaside and of course the famous water lilies and gardens that surrounded his beloved home in Giverny. Unlike Degas, Cézanne or Pissarro, contemporaries whose reputations rested on works on paper as well as canvases, Monet was the epitome of the plein-air painter.

Whenever a journalist or collector asked him how he worked, he talked incessantly about the liberating possibilities of painting outdoors, forgoing any mention of the sketches, pastels and prints he quietly produced throughout his life.

“Monet wanted to present himself as the great painter of his day,” said Richard Kendall, curator at large at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass. “It was a kind of PR exercise, a way of defining himself. But the big, teasing question has always been why didn’t he want people to know he drew?”

[Pharmboy]

“The Unknown Monet: Pastels and Drawings” will be at the Royal Academy of Arts in London from March 17 to June 10, and at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., from June 24 to Sept. 16.

I figured those Freepers within driving distance of Williamstown might be interested in catching this one.

[Pharmboy]

A bit of beauty for the art ping crowd. All I can say is wow.

[ml/nj]

Even after the drawings will have left, or before they arrive, The Clark is a must stop for anyone remotely interested in art. I think it has the best small collection in the country.

ML/NJ

[Pharmboy]

I visited the Clark back in the early '80s and was most impressed. A little jewel of an art museum.

[MHGinTN]

Thank you for this beautiful post. The woman's eyes in the last image above are truly stunning work. I have a #2 pencil drawing done of Eric Clapton by a young teen girl ... until you get within a foot of the drawing you cannot tell it is not a photograph! [The girl's name is Shira ... watch for her to explode upon the art world in the not too distant future, once she matures a bit.]

[Billthedrill]

Fairly unremarkable, I sez to meseff, until I scrolls down to the red chalk drawing. Do you realize how good somebody has to be to do that? You-gotta-be-kidding BTT...

[ml/nj]

My favorite:

But these others aren't bad!

ML/NJ