: Generations of late Nineteenth Century art students, including
Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso, made active use of a series
of 200 lithographed drawings of the nude figure created by
little-known French artist, Charles Bargue (1825-26-1883).
Bargue, hugely talented and probably self-taught, first published
the exquisite collection of plates called the Cours de
Dessin in Paris with Goupil & Cie between 1868 and 1873.
Goupil connected Bargue with one of his best-selling artists,
Gerome, and together they published and sold thousands of these
teaching manuals. Young artists copied plates in sequence in
order to perfect their drawing skills, hoping to emulate Bargue's
refinement of line, shading, volume and perspective.
"Charles Bargue; The Art of Drawing," at the Dahesh Museum of Art
until February 8, is the first exhibition devoted to this artist
and his oeuvre. Among the rarely seen treasures is one of the
last remaining Cours de Dessin (the most important of only
two complete sets known to exist); the majority of Bargue's
extremely rare oil paintings, jewel-like works that were highly
sought after by major contemporary collectors in both Europe and
the United States; and a selection of his most significant
drawings.
The exhibition coincides with the long anticipated re-publication
(by ACR Press, Paris) of the Original Cours de Dessin, set
in a hard cover sleeve. Guest curator Professor Gerald M.
Ackerman, the preeminent Gerome and Bargue scholar, is the author
of the accompanying exhibition monograph, published in
cooperation with the Dahesh Museum of Art. His incisive
interpretations of each plate, afford the artist/reader with a
clear understanding of how the manual was meant to function as a
teaching tool. Ackerman's biography of Bargue is the first ever
published anywhere.
The museum is at 580 Madison Avenue. For information,
212-759-0606 or www.daheshmuseum.org.
