The Frick Collection: The Impressionist Line from Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec

I was lucky to be able to catch this exhibition at the Frick Mansion in NYC yesterday.  It took my breath away.  From the Toulouse-Lautrec lithographs, to the Gauguins to the incredible Degas drawings, I was in awe.

This exhibition presents a selection of nineteenth-century French drawings and prints from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Sheets by Millet, Courbet, Degas, Manet, Pissarro, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, and other masters are on view. Ranging widely in subject matter and technique and spanning the entire second half of the nineteenth century, these works represent the diverse interests of Realist, Impressionist, and Post-Impressionist artists in a rapidly changing world. Graphite and charcoal drawings of classically idealized nudes exhibit the virtuoso finish and illusionism long championed by academic tradition while rapidly executed sketches present more candid and provocative renderings of the body. Luminous pastels and watercolors capture impressions of city and country, and lively etchings and vivid color lithographs convey the spectacle and atmosphere of modern life. Populating these images are peasants, performers, racehorses, and mythological goddesses. Settings vary from the French countryside and far-flung islands to Parisian cafés and dancehalls, shifting back and forth between labor and leisure, highlife and low. [more...]