Renoir Drawings

Drawings, pastels, prints and watercolors: Renoir's works on paper provide crucial insight into his instantly recognizable Impressionist paintings

Published with RMN-Grand Palais, Musee d'Orsay, and Morgan Library & Museum.

The paintings of Pierre-Auguste Renoir have become icons of Impressionism. Although his works on paper are less widely known, drawing remained central to his artistic practice even as his interests and ambitions changed over the course of a long career. This book explores the ways in which Renoir used paper to test ideas, plan compositions and interpret both landscape and the human figure. Renoir Drawings features more than 110 drawings, pastels, watercolors, prints and a small selection of paintings, enabling readers to engage with Renoir's creative process while offering insights into his artistic methods over five decades. Thematic sections cover the full span of the artist's career, ranging from academic studies he made as a student, to on-the-spot impressions of contemporary urban and rural life, to finished, formal portraits, to intimate sketches of friends and family completed late in life. In-depth case studies of favored themes and preparatory work for landmark canvases further illuminate Renoir's drawing practice. Together with Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) was a founder of the style that became known as Impressionism, and one of its most prolific exponents. He was described by Herbert Read as "the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau."