L'ART DU DESSIN : Les processus de création

The aim of this book is to return to the threefold meaning of the word dess[e]in: that of project, research, study and thought (in the intellectual sense), as well as that of line, delineation and surface (in the formal sense) using pencil, pen and brush (in the material sense).

Bypassing a traditional approach based on centuries and schools (the Italian school and its regional subdivisions, the French school, the Nordic school, etc.), the author conducts an in-depth investigation based on studio practices and the graphic research procedures used by draughtsmen to study the future forms of their compositions. From the first thought to the finished sketch, the whole genesis of the work is revealed before our eyes. Presented thematically, from the late Middle Ages to the twentieth century, the ‘master drawings’ on display restore the medium's exploratory and preparatory dimension to a work of art, a quality hitherto little studied.

More than 300 sheets, some grouped together in demonstrative sequences using fold-outs - including Parmigianino's Madonna of the Long Neck and Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon - underpin this captivating immersion in the laboratory of artistic creation.