All these works take the form of dark, simple shapes on the paper ground. But they are all very much alive and very moving, humanized by the act of the artists' hands blackening those simple forms. Charcoal smears and errant pencil marks are never completely erasable. Stylistically, these drawings are recognizable in relation to these artists' more well-known paintings and sculptures. The Braque drawings have much in common with Braque's oils and the Motherwell is without doubt a Motherwell.
Artists make paintings, in some degree, for the world.
But artists can make drawings for themselves. The prose is scholarly yet readable. The texts tell the about the art in its social and historical context while the color illustrations show what it was all about. Vivid anecdotes bring the pages alive, whether references to visual arts taken from Homer's poetry in Greek Art or the advise bestowed on Courbet by his leftist grandpapa. No sticky pages here.