This exhibition highlights more than 150 master drawings from the Thaw Collection, one of the world?s finest private collections containing over 400 sheets. Assembled over the last fifty years, and made a promised gift to the Morgan in 1975, the collection has now been given in full to the museum by Life Trustee Eugene V. Thaw and his wife, Clare. 'Drawn to Greatness' focuses on pivotal artists and key moments in the history of draftsmanship. Works by major masters from the Renaissance to the modern era will be on view, including Mantegna, Rubens, Rembrandt, Canaletto, Piranesi, Watteau, Fragonard, Goya, Ingres, Turner, Daumier, Redon, Degas, Cézanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, and Pollock. 00Exhibition: Morgan Library and Museum, New York, USA (29.09.2017-07..01.2018) / Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, USA (03.02.-29.04.2018).

The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, is home to one of the most important collections of historic book art and drawings in the USA. Since renovation and the re-opening of the extension designed by Renzo Piano in Spring of 2006, the institution - created 80 years ago to house the collection belonging to art patron John Pierpont Morgan has played a prominent role in New York's museum world. The Staatliche Graphische Sammlung Munich will be hosting a display of 1 00 masterpieces from five centuries in its exhibition rooms at the Pinakothek der Moderne. This will be the first time that The Morgan Library & Museum presents its collection of drawings of world renown in Germany. Exhibition and catalog are sponsored by Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and Deutsche Bank Stiftung.

The history of the world as witnessed through the most inspiring, rousing, and memorable speeches ever given. Throughout history, passionate orators have rallied nations, challenged accepted beliefs, and changed the course of history. Colin Salter has identified one-hundred of history's most inspirational, momentous, and thought-provoking speeches from ancient Rome and Athens to the 21st century and puts them into context, telling the stories behind the words that made history. A celebration of the power of spoken rhetoric at its finest, this book profiles the words of the world's greatest public speakers. The speeches covered span the spectrum from stirring calls to arms to impassioned pleas for peace, along with speeches that marked major historical events such as the abolition of slavery, women achieving the right to vote, and the expansion of civil rights. Each speech features a concise introduction along with detailed analysis accompanied by key illustrations and photographs. Highlighted speeches include: Elizabeth I's speech in preparation of the Spanish Armada (1588), Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman" (1851), Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (1863), Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (1933), Winston Churchill, "Blood, Sweat and Tears" (1940), Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" (1963), Harvey Milk's "Hope Speech" (1978), Margaret Thatcher's "The Lady's not for Turning" (1980), Nelson Mandela on his release from prison (1990), among many more.

Between 1512 and 1570, Florence underwent dramatic political transformations. As citizens jockeyed for prominence, portraits became an essential means not only of recording a likeness but also of conveying a sitter’s character, social position, and cultural ambitions. This fascinating book explores the ways that painters (including Jacopo Pontormo, Agnolo Bronzino, and Francesco Salviati), sculptors (such as Benvenuto Cellini), and artists in other media endowed their works with an erudite and self-consciously stylish character that made Florentine portraiture distinctive. The Medici family had ruled Florence without interruption between 1434 and 1494. Following their return to power in 1512, Cosimo I de’ Medici, who became the second Duke of Florence in 1537, demonstrated a particularly shrewd ability to wield culture as a political tool in order to transform Florence into a dynastic duchy and give Florentine art the central position it has held ever since. Featuring more than ninety remarkable paintings, sculptures, works on paper, and medals, this volume is written by a team of leading international authors and presents a sweeping, penetrating exploration of a crucial and vibrant period in Italian art.

The Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich houses one of the finest and most famous collections of drawings and prints in Germany, with holdings of around 400,000 works ranging from the fifteenth century to modernity. Published to accompany an exhibition at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York, 100 Master Drawings from Munich comprises lush full-color illustrations of over one hundred of the museum's works of art. Demonstrating the impressive depth and breadth of works owned by the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, the works in this volume range from rough preparatory sketches to meticulously executed studies and encompass a variety of media, including silverpoint, chalk, ink, and aquarelle. Among the many extraordinary pieces are Old Dutch and German prints, nineteenth-century German drawings, and works by Dürer and Rembrandt. But equally not to be missed are the many compelling works of contemporary graphic art for which the museum is best known.

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