Claude Monet: 103 Drawings and Pastels

Although Claude Monet helped perpetrate the myth that he did not, and maybe even could not, draw, nearly 500 of more than 2,500 his works are sketchbooks, drawings and pastels. This work is focused on Monet's drawings, pastels and sketchbooks, offering a new aspect of the artist's work. Drawing upon recently discovered documents and a body of graphic work largely unknown to the public and scholars alike, reveals that Monet relied extensively upon drafting in the development of his paintings in addition to painting his subjects directly. Monet has long been seen as an anti-draftsman, having denied the role of drawing in his working method in an effort to advance his public image as an image Impressionist. He is among the world's most celebrated painters, yet he is almost unknown as a draftsman. This book explores Monet's works on paper, from caricatures he made as a boy to sketchbook studies for his late water-lily canvases. Monet also produced highly finished black-chalk and pastel drawings.