51 drawings and watercolors from many of the 19th century’s most prominent artists including Degas, Cézanne, Pissaro, Rodin, Tissot and Ruskin.
The collection of 19th century drawings in the Ashmolean began in the lifetime of many of the artists who created them. By the 1860s, the Museum was already famous for its wealth of drawings by past and contemporary artists. This exhibition gives visitors a sense of the aesthetic values held by those who assembled the collections.

Graduate students from the Department of Art History visited Oxford during the fall course to study the drawings first-hand, and prepared essays to be published in the exhibition catalogue.

“None of us can ever escape the taste of our times entirely,” said Jon Whiteley, of the Ashmolean Museum’s Department of Western Art and curator of the exhibition. “This exhibition shows that great things can be achieved within the constraints of fashion by a curator or collector driven by conviction and passion. It celebrates a view of the 19th century, which will seem increasingly selective as time goes by, but is based upon a profound belief in the over-riding importance of quality.”

Master Drawings was made possible by Friends of the Arthur Ross Gallery, the Arthur Ross Foundation, and the Offices of Oxford University, North America, New York City.

Master Drawings from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
(www.arthistory.upenn.edu/ashmolean)

Opening Reception