Master Drawings Rediscovered: Treasures from Prewar German Collections

Recently the art world learned that for nearly 50 years the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg had been holding a major trove of work from German private collections--treasures which were generally thought to have been lost or destroyed. This splendid volume reveals a magnificent collection of these works, including glories by Goya, Daumier, Menzel, Cezanne, and Toulouse-Lactrec. 200 illustrations, 89 in color.

This catalog presents the third exhibition by the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, of artworks removed from Germany after World War II and sequestered for 50 years. This volume reproduces 89 drawings chiefly from former private collections, a number of them previously unpublished. The drawings span the 19th and 20th centuries, with 30 by Goya and substantial numbers by Daumier, Menzel, Signac, and Archipenko, as well as individual sheets by Ingres, Cezanne, Van Gogh, and others. The detailed two- to three-page commentary on each work is perceptive and focused on the art-historical and aesthetic issues. A brief introduction sketches the provenance of many of the drawings. The political question of ownership is raised but not resolved; in any case, placing these images back in circulation is itself a great service. Valuable for general readers and specialists, this is highly recommended for all collections.?Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Lib.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.