I was never a big fan of Eugéne Delacroix. His large narrative paintings were interesting from an art history perspective, but passionless in spite of the passion depicted with all the horses and battles and such. I know that seems crazy considering his subject matter, but I just felt that human heat missing. Even with all that color and brushwork, Delacroix’s figures seemed frozen in time. What if it were all stripped away to just the lines?
Now comes this wonderful display of Delacroix’s passion as evidenced in this extensive collection of preparatory drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This satisfying exhibit of the Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugéne Delacroix shows the artist’s eyes, hands and mind passionately at work as he contemplates the masterpieces ahead of him through the process of Drawing. Lots of drawing.
These sheets below from his drawing books contain numerous figurative gems that I’ve done my best to photograph. If you LOVE DRAWING, you really should get over to the @Metmuseum before this show closes on November 12, 2018.
