In 1955 the Franco-Belgian poet and visual artist Henri Michaux (1899-1984) tried
the psychedelic drug mescaline, an experience that transformed his artistic life and
provoked an outpouring of writings and distinctive drawings. Accompanying an
exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, this fascinating catalogue celebrates these unique
drawings.
This catalogue and exhibition celebrate the unique Mescaline Drawings by the Franco-
Belgian poet and visual artist Henri Michaux (1899-1984). In January 1955, as part of an
experiment prompted by his publisher, Michaux, who was then 56 years old, tried the
psychedelic drug mescaline, a product derived from the Mexican peyote cactus. The
aim of the experiment was to investigate the effect of this type of non-addictive drug
on the creative act. Michaux considered these experiences to be a portal into the inner
workings of the mind.
The investigation transformed Michaux's artistic life and provoked an outpouring
of writings and distinctive drawings during the 1950s and 1960s, the latter being
at the centre of this exhibition. Created after the effects of mescaline (and at times
other drugs such as hashish, LSD and psilocybin) had passed, the drawings are the
astonishing transcriptions of the artist's sensation, rendered as if by a sort of shuddering
seismograph. This display and the accompanying catalogue, which present works rarely
seen in the UK, will showcase Michaux's extraordinary experience, one that pushed the
limits of what the essence of drawing is.
The Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur, northern Switzerland, is one
of the most remarkable of its kind, ranging from superlative Old Master
paintings and drawings to exceptional examples of Impressionist art. The
catalogue accompanies an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, London, which
narrates the story of the collector, Oskar Reinhart (1885-1965), and presents
an extraordinary group of masterpieces that are shown outside Winterthur for
the first time in the history of the institution.
Assembled in the first half of the twentieth century by Oskar Reinhart, the
collection - apart from some donations to the state museum in Winterthur -
opened to the public in 1958 in Reinhart's beautiful villa 'Am Romerholz', where
it has remained since. A clause in Reinhart's will, however, explicitly barred the
museum from lending to other institutions.
For the first time in its history, a rich selection of highlights from the
Oskar Reinhart Collection will be displayed outside Switzerland, making the
Courtauld exhibition a unique opportunity to appreciate its masterpieces,
including major paintings by artists of the generation preceding the
Impressionists, such as Goya, Géricault and Courbet. But the focus will be
Reinhart's extraordinary Impressionist and Post-Impressionist holdings, which
include some of the greatest paintings of these movements, such as Manet's
groundbreaking depiction of modern life in Au Café, Toulouse-Lautrec's
striking representation of the female performer Clown Cha-U-Kao and a group
of exceptional works by Paul Cezanne. Equally important is a pair of paintings
by Van Gogh of the hospital in Arles, where he returned to paint after spending
time there as a patient. The Reinhart Collection has close affinities with that
of the Courtauld, which provides therefore the perfect setting to stage this
unprecedented exhibition.
Henry Spencer Moore (1898-1986) was one of the most influential British artists of the twentieth century. This catalogue considers Moore's celebrated Shelter drawings as the point of departure for a new reading of the artist's fascination with images of walls, during and immediately after World War II. It accompanies a focused exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery. After the destruction of his London studio early in World War II, Henry Moore began drawing figures sheltering from bomb raids in the London Underground. This catalogue and exhibition consider Moore's celebrated series as the point of departure for a new reading of the artist's fascination with images of walls, during and immediately after World War II. In the London Underground, where Moore drew these figures, the walls of these sheltered spaces came to absorb his attention in an altogether new way, becoming scene-setters, and key components of his drawings. This fascination with the bricks and the presence of walls, their texture, mass and volume, became especially important after his project to illustrate the wartime radio play The Rescue, based on Homer's Odyssey. Henry Moore: Shadows on the Wall, a collaboration with the Henry Moore Foundation, suggests for the first time that the walls in his drawings offer a new way to understand some of his most individual and monumental Post-War sculpture projects.
This catalogue accompanies the first exhibition dedicated to Antoine Caron's graphic work and explores the role the Queen Mother Regent Catherine de' Medici played in a key series of drawings, some reunited here for the first time.
This catalogue accompanies an exhibition to be held at The Courtauld Gallery, which will be the first dedicated to the graphic oeuvre of Antoine Caron (1521-1599). Bringing together a core group of drawings centred around the figures and deeds of the French Royal family, the Valois, this display will highlight the role played by the Regent Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589). Featuring the Valois series, a set of drawings here reunited for the first time, the display will showcase the way in which the powerful and influential Catherine promoted the success of her regency and future of her progeny by delivering a series of lavish courtly events that were meant to enhance the power and diplomacy of her family.
The drawings in this display represent jousts, tournaments, festivals and a naval battle, events that occurred at the French court during the reigns of Catherine's sons Charles IX and Henri III. Preparatory designs for a group of tapestries, these visual documents relate to actual events that were organised by the court at the French castles of Anet, Fontainebleau, Bayonne and the Tuileries Gardens.
Minutely designed, they will thus allow to reconstruct the visual testimony of those events, as they were documented in written contemporary sources.
This stunning catalogue presents The Courtauld's outstanding collection of works by Renaissance artist Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, better known as Parmigianino (1503-1540).
This catalogue accompanies a display of works by Parmigianino at The Courtauld,
including his famous and enigmatic painting of the Virgin and Child, as well as drawn studies for his most ambitious projects such as the Madonna of the Long Neck and the frescoes of the church of Santa Maria della Steccata in Parma. The latter was the last and most important commission of his life and would have been his triumphal homecoming. Instead, Parmigianino became entangled in his experimental processes and failed to
complete it, leading to his brief imprisonment for breach of contract.
Fundamentally a draftsman at heart, Parmigianino drew relentlessly during
his relatively short life, and around a thousand of his drawings have survived. The Courtauld's collection comprises twenty-four sheets. In preparation for the catalogue, new photography and technical examinations have been carried out on all the works revealing two new drawings that were previously unknown, hidden underneath their historic mounts. They have also helped to better identify connections between some of the drawings and the finished paintings for which they were conceived. The catalogue illustrates the whole Courtauld collection, which also includes two paintings and more than ten prints. As a printmaker, Parmigianino is considered to have been the first to experiment with etching in Italy and was a pioneer of the chiaroscuro woodcut technique.
His refined and graceful compositions were much appreciated by his contemporaries and exalted by the artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari (1511-74).
This catalogue and display have been curated by Gottardo and Rebecchini in
collaboration with former and current research students at The Courtauld, and technical research has been conducted by members of The Courtauld Conservation Institute. A truly collaborative project, the catalogue sheds light on an artist who approached every technique with unprecedented freedom and produced innovative works which were studied and admired by artists and collectors for many years to come.
