Drawn by New YorkSix Centuries of Watercolors and Drawings at the New-York Historical Society
Published by GILES in association with the New-York Historical Society
Publish Date — September 2008 (UK and USA)
Dimensions — 448 pages, 292 × 229 mm (9 × 11 ½ in.), portrait
Illustrations — 235 colour and 30 b&w illustrations
Hardback price — UK£44.95 / US$85.00
ISBN — 1-904832-34-2
ISBN — 978-1-904832-34-8
Book Details (pdf) — Drawn_by_New_York_ai.pdf
Sales Points
The first extensive catalogue of this significant collection presenting over 200 drawings, watercolours and other works on paper
Includes major works by John James Audubon, Thomas Cole, Asher B. Durand, Albert Bierstadt, George Catlin and
John Singer Sargent
Publication accompanies an exhibition opening at the New-York Historical Society in September 2008, travelling to the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College (August-November 2009) and the Taft Museum of Art (November 2009–February 2010)
About the Book
The New-York Historical Society’s drawing collection is one of the earliest assembled in the United States, yet its trove of over 8,000 sheets and 75 rare sketchbooks is surprisingly unknown. Drawn by New York presents over 200 highlights of the Society’s vast holdings, which span six centuries, from 16th-century avian watercolours and a Dutch view of New
Amsterdam (1650), to the façade of St. Patrick’s Cathedral captured from inside Rockefeller Center by Richard Haas
(2002) and representations of the World Trade Center, both before and after September 11th 2001. There are works by
Thomas Cole, sheets by Asher B. Durand, and a cache of 500 watercolours by John James Audubon (including those for
The Birds of America, 1827–38). Over 200 “Outline Drawings” by George Catlin record long-vanished Native American cultures.
This volume has two key components; the first is the main catalogue, which features highlights of the most significant
works. The catalogue entries are organized chronologically by artist birth date, and each features a biography and selected
bibliography. These precede extended technical entries with footnotes, which discuss each work’s artistic importance
and its historical and contextual significance. The other component is an essay about the history of the collection, and
the phenomena that influenced the art produced.
