Prints and Drawings

The prints and drawings department is the keeper of the Museum’s encyclopedic collection of works of art on paper from the Middle Ages through the 21st century, including prints, drawings, watercolors, pastels, paintings on paper, artist books, and printmaking matrices. 

 

Featuring art from the medieval era to the present day, the department’s collection showcases the diverse array of creative expression encompassed by the term “works on paper.” Its encyclopedic scope spans works of wide-ranging dates, cultural origins, and media, with particular strengths in European Old Master and 19th-century prints, American and British watercolors, Abstract Expressionist drawings, and works on paper by 20th-century sculptors. Important hubs of modern and contemporary printmaking, such as late 19th-century Paris, the Taller de Gráfica Popular, Peter Blum Edition, ULAE, and Gemini G.E.L., are all well represented in the collection, which also houses printing matrices and proof impressions that offer valuable insights into the printmaking process.

 

In addition to fully realized drawings, including masterworks by Edgar Degas, Paul Klee, and Pablo Picasso, the collection hosts numerous preparatory studies and sketchbooks, demonstrating the variety of roles draftsmanship plays in artists’ practices. While continuing to build on its existing riches, the prints and drawings department actively pursues acquisitions that will enable it to present historically marginalized perspectives and narratives, striving to develop robust holdings of work by women, artists of color, and artists working outside of major metropolitan centers.