A third new exhibitor is Découvert Fine Art gallery of Rockport, MA. Steven Law says the galleries exhibition during MASTER DRAWINGS week will be titled “The Feminine Observed, 16th to 20th century, and New Acquisitions.” It begins with the Coronation of the Virgin, a Counter-Reformation study for an altar, probably Antwerp, 1620. Other drawings exploring the feminine within the Biblical narrative include The Virgin, Child, and St. John after a print by Laurent de La Hyre (Paris 1606-1656), a 17th century Genoese rendering of The Meeting of David and Abigail, and a small 16th century Northern School scene from the story of Holofernes. These are followed by Amorous Peasants in a Bower by William De Heer (1638-1681). Drawings of the feminine in mythology include a Study of a Centauresse, Satyre, and Horseman after the architect Charles Normand and attributed to Theodore Gericault (Rouen 1791 – Paris 1824), Pluto Abducting Venus attributed to Nicola Maria Rossi (Naples 1690-1758), and Venus or Galatea after Luca Cambiaso. Drawings by Vuilliard and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux portray women in interiors. Modern ideas about the feminine are explored through works by Andre Derain (Chatou 1880 – Garches 1954), Leopold Survage (Moscow 1879 – Paris 1968, and an artist of the Secession Style, Franz von Bayros (1866 Zagreb – 1924 Vienna), whose work The Logic of Divorce was printed in a 1913 edition of Lustige Blätter. New acquisitions include works by, attributed to, or after Francesco Cozza, Veronese (and/or his workshop), Pellegrino Tibaldi, Vittorio Maria Bigari, Negretti, and Jan Lievens.

W & K Wienerroither and Kohlbacher of Vienna is joining MASTER DRAWINGS week this year. Specialists in Austrian fine art, the gallery now shows modern artists from Austria as well as international artists. It supports an ambitious publishing and exhibition schedule and has galleries both in Vienna and New York. Mary-Anne Martin Fine Art returns to Master Drawings week with a special exhibition titled, “Drawings by the Muralists.” This group includes watercolors and sketches by Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, Rufino Tamayo, Leonora Carrington, Jean Charlot, and Elena Climent. A highlight of the show is Orozco’s “Five Heads (Beggars)” a gouache from 1940 that came from the Estate of the American playwright, Elmer Rice, and has been in a private collection for almost 50 years. At MASTER DRAWINGS NEW YORK the artworks on view cut across the full range of styles, centuries, mediums and genres and provide pricing options that are attractive both to seasoned and new collectors.

Highlights at the 2016 MASTER DRAWINGS NEW YORK include New York dealer Pia Gallo’s exhibition of “American Masters: Pastels and Watercolors” including impressive works by Maurice Prendergast, such as “St. Mark’s Lion, Venice,” Everett Shinn and Frank Benson. “Ellie Benson at age 3,” is Frank Benson’s portrait of his granddaughter and is a sensitive rendering of childhood innocence by the artist’s granddaughter – who was said to be terrified to move after being perched on a wicker stool on and off for three days. Here, Benson has skillfully used the white expanse of the paper to create the impression that sparkling sunlight bathes the young girl. The dark backdrop of trees behind her further enhances the vivid brightness of the composition. The portrait has been in the family since 1927. Another highlight is by Everett Shinn, who had a great infatuation of the works of Edgar Degas, which made a lasting impression on him. Here a lone ballerina takes her bow at the end of a performance and the entire image has been captured with a sense of immediacy. Like Degas, Shinn perceived the scene from the intimate position of the left wing of the stage, beautifully capturing the spontaneous quivering of the dancer’s tutu. Shinn conveys the dramatic impact of the figure alone on the stage by positioning the ballerina against a diagonal sweep of stage painted in a brilliant green that divides the composition in half. This work was in the collection of the Portland Art Museum. Pia Gallo has recently relocated her New York gallery to new quarters at 12 East 86 Street where she offers fine old master and modern prints and drawings.
Many of the MASTER DRAWINGS NEW YORK exhibitors show works not previously on view in the United States.

Mireille Mosler Ltd. is showing the Dutch artist Willy Sluiter (1873-1949) who was commissioned in 1923 by KLM, the world’s oldest airline, to design an advertisement. For this bright drawing, How to See Holland, Sluiter choose a familiar image of Holland: a Dutch girl in traditional costume from the popular fishing village of Volendam, holding tulips. The original drawing for this brochure, although clearly executed with tourists in mind, is now for the first time on view in the United States. Another artwork also on view for the first time in the United States at the Mosler exhibition is an early impression of the artists’ studio by Jan Toorop from 1880. A favorite subject among the artist of the fin de siecle, Toorop created an intimated portrait of his surroundings without adding a self-portrait. A slightly larger oil study of Toorop in his studio, dated 1883, is now in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.