Now and Then: Drawings from the 19th Century to the Present

The New York Academy of Art, in partnership with the Dahesh Museum of Art, is pleased to announce the exhibition Now and Then: Drawings from the 19th Century to the Present. The exhibition runs from January 19 to March 6, with an opening reception on Tuesday, January 19, from 6 pm to 8 pm.
Now and Then explores the ways that articulate, technically rich drawing has advanced over time, by contrasting classic works by nine 19th century masters with selected drawings by nine contemporary artists. Among the historical draughtsmen represented are Adolphe Appian, Léon Bonnat, Paul Chenevard, Charles Damour, Gustave Doré, Oscar Fehrer, Émile Friant, Sir John Gilbert, Léon-Augustin Lhermitte, alongside 21st century artists Steven Assael, Margaret Bowland, Monica Cook, Inka Essenhigh, Michèle Fenniak, Audrey Flack, Michael Grimaldi, Jean-Pierre Roy, and Edward Schmidt. In addition to demonstrating the changes in style and preferred subject matter across two centuries, the exhibit reflects the Academy’s mission of preserving and promoting traditional artistic skills in the service of creating essential contemporary art.
All historical drawings in the show are generously lent by New York’s Dahesh Museum of Art, the only institution in the United States devoted to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting works by Europe’s academically trained artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The exhibition is curated by the Academy’s Dean of Academic Affairs Peter Drake and Director of Exhibitions Heidi Elbers and generously sponsored by Cadogan Tate Fine Art. On Wednesday, January 27 at 6:30 pm, the curators will lead a panel discussion about the exhibit alongside three of the contemporary artists represented in the show.
About New York Academy of Art
Founded in 1982 by artists, scholars and patrons of the arts, including Andy Warhol, New York Academy of Art is a graduate school that combines intensive technical training in the fine arts with active critical discourse. The Academy believes that rigorously trained artists are best able to realize their artistic vision. Academy students are taught traditional methods and techniques and encouraged to use these skills to make vital contemporary art. The Academy serves as a creative and intellectual center for all artists dedicated to highly skilled, conceptually aware figurative and representational art.