Antoine Watteau: The DrawingsJean-Antoine Watteau produced some of the most seductive drawings in French art, pioneering a style that favoured spontaneity, lightness and intimacy over the grandiosity and formal rules of academic art. He is especially revered for his mastery of the trois crayons technique, the subtle manipulation and expert balancing of red, black and white chalks.This sumptuous book reproduces the finest examples of his graphic art, revealing the delicacy and freedom of execution that had such a profound effect on subsequent generations of artists, notably Francois Boucher and Jean-Honore Fragonard.Pierre Rosenberg and Louis-Antoine Prat examine these masterly studies, focusing on Watteau's development as a draughtsman, the techniques that he perfected and the fascinating role that drawing played in his work. Catalog of an exhibition held at Royal Academy of Arts, London, 12 March-5 June 2011. |
