A Passion for Drawing

Book excerpt: Discover highlights from one of the world's most diverse and prestigious drawing collections. Two decades ago, art collectors Florence and Daniel Guerlain decided to focus their energies on shaping a collection of contemporary works on paper. In 2013 they donated a large part of their holdings--1,200 works in total--to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. This book includes exquisite full-page reproductions of one hundred drawings and offers readers the chance to experience the extraordinary scope of the Guerlain collection through spectacular contemporary examples from an often overlooked medium. Among the artists featured in the book are Robert Longo, Kiki Smith, Jorinde Voigt, Marcel Dzama, Catharina Van Eetvelde, and Sandra Vasquez de la Horra. Works by other artists who are better known for their painting, sculpture, and performance art, deepen and enhance our experience of their respective oeuvres. This volume opens with an interview with Florence and Daniel Guerlain, and continues with brief essays by curator Elsy Lahner about each of the artists and their artwork, while an essay by Isabelle Dervaux explores the significance of this collection.