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Modern Prints & Drawings: A Guide to a Better Understanding of Modern Draughtsmanship
Paul J. Sachs
*Modern Prints and Drawings* is Harvard connoisseur Paul J. Sachs's guide to appreciating the draughtsmanship of the modern era. Across chapters on Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Expressionism and abstraction — spanning Europe, the United States and Mexico — Sachs presents individual prints and drawings with short commentaries, deliberately leaving room for the reader's own response. With a preface by Alfred H. Barr, the founding director of the Museum of Modern Art, the book distills Sachs's lifetime as a passionate collector and teacher into an accessible primer on how to look. First published by Knopf in 1954, it speaks to students of modern art and to anyone wanting to sharpen their eye for works on paper.
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The author
Paul J. Sachs (1878–1965), of the Goldman Sachs family, left banking to become a professor of fine arts at Harvard and associate director of its Fogg Museum. His famous "Museum Course" trained a generation of American museum directors and curators, and he was a renowned collector, especially of drawings — Degas above all.
The book
Published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954 with a preface by MoMA's Alfred H. Barr, the book surveys modern prints and drawings movement by movement, pairing plates with brief, suggestive explanations rather than exhaustive analysis. Its authority comes from Sachs's immense first-hand experience of the art of the past brought to bear on the art of his own time.
How it has aged
The selection and language reflect mid-century taste, and scholarship has expanded greatly since; but as a connoisseur's introduction to looking at works on paper it retains real charm and value. Read it for the trained eye behind it, supplementing with newer surveys for coverage.
For more context
Sachs's influence lives on through the museum professionals his Harvard course produced.
Sources
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Paul J. Sachs
- Publisher
- Alfred A. Knopf
- Place of publication
- New York
- Year
- 1954
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Art
- Location
- Colorado