Compass in Hand: Assessing Drawing Now

Formed by Harvey S. Shipley Miller and donated to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 2005, The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection was conceived to be the widest possible cross-section of contemporary drawing made primarily within the past 20 years, surveying gestural and geometric abstraction, representation and figuration, systems-based and Conceptual work, as well as appropriation and collage. While the collection primarily focuses on the work of artists living and working in what are widely regarded as five major centers of visual art today--New York, Los Angeles, London/Glasgow, Berlin and Cologne/Düsseldorf--it also includes artists from 30 countries throughout Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Established artists such as Jasper Johns are represented through examples of recent work, while others, such as Joseph Beuys and Philip Guston, are highlighted through core historic groupings, and still others are shown in a comprehensive overview of their careers, including Alighiero e Boetti, Lee Bontecou, Ray Johnson, Anish Kapoor, Franz West, Bruce Conner and Hannah Wilke. Minimal and Conceptual drawings from the 1960s and 1970s acquired by the foundation from New York-based collectors Eileen and Michael Cohen are juxtaposed with major works by self-taught artists including James Castle, Henry Darger, Ele D'Artagnan and Pearl Blauvelt, representing a diverse anthology of works on paper. Additional highlights, both contemporary and historic, include works by Tomma Abts, Kai Althoff, Robert Crumb, Tacita Dean, Peter Doig, Angus Fairhurst, Mark Grotjahn, Richard Hamilton, Eva Hesse, Charline von Heyl, Christian Holstad, Roni Horn, Ellsworth Kelly, Martin Kippenberger, Roy Lichtenstein, Sherrie Levine, Lee Lozano, Agnes Martin, Cady Noland, Jennifer Pastor, Elizabeth Peyton, Adrian Piper, Paul Thek, Richard Wright and Andrea Zittel. Reminiscent of the classic 2002 MoMA catalogue Drawing Now and published to accompany a major 2009 exhibition at The Museum, this volume brings together approximately 250 representative works.