James Harris Gallery, in association with Jill Newhouse, a private New York gallery specializing in European drawings and watercolors, is pleased to present Junctions: Selected Drawings by Contemporary Artists and Modern Masters.

In bringing together over two centuries of works on paper, this show looks at contemporary drawing by taking a step backward. Showcasing work from the past to illustrate and gain insight into the way drawing has always captured the hand of the artist, Junctions celebrates the seemingly simple but also utterly distinct and enduring act of making marks on a surface.

With mark and gesture – the traditional hallmarks of drawing – being at the center of this show, the difference between an artist’s drawing from a hundred years ago and a contemporary work often disappears. The personalized mark of the artist and its powerful form of expression overwhelms any variation that might result because of historical context. Be it Pierre Bonnard’s (b. 1867) masterful study of his wife, detailing her graceful figure standing against the bright, soft light of their tiled bathroom, or Marcelino Goncalves’ (b. 1969) soft but vivid drawing of a man testing the water in his bath, drawing guarantees an intimate aesthetic encounter, animated by the individual handwriting of the artist.

In bringing together such a diverse range of drawings, both in terms of style and content, not only is this highly personal act of drawing brought to a climax but a surprising consistency between the works also emerges. Whether the work is loose and abstract, tight and formal, the quality of line and draftsmanship is resolute while their personal, even heroic marks implicate the artist’s own hand. As such, this show does not try to define a specific vocabulary for drawing but instead demonstrate how the successes of a wash, arabesque, sfumato, line, form and color are all present as an artist constructs a drawing.

From the soft-edged shapes of the Manet study to the black-and-white precision of Roy McMakin, or from the beautiful but unsettling studies of Delacroix to the sharp but romantic lines in Susan Russell Hall’s drawing, each of these artists masterfully employs similar elements like crosshatching, burnishing, or the use of a contour line to achieve a balanced and ultimately graceful drawing.

Artists like McMakin and Collin Shutz replace the traditional gestures in Paul Klee’s energized figure with a combination of precision and fluidity. McMakin’s drawing engages with domestic and architectural forms but takes on none of the formal rigidity that one might find in a blueprint.

Other artists in the exhibition interrupt the traditional flow and composition of landscape painting by drafting unusual compositions. Claire Cowie’s simplified landscapes evoke all the elements of a Master landscape painting without any of them being there while Shaun O’Dell’s intricate, highly coded drawings, recall the mythology of the American frontier and the spirit of conquest evoked by the nineteenth-century expansionist doctrine.

With such a diverse range of works the drawings in Junctions are not meant to be compared against each other. The practice of drawing is the focus of the show not artistic movements, tendencies or influences. As such, whether artists adhered to traditional modes of expression or transformed them, the sculpture David Smith's judgment lies at the heart of this show: "Drawings remain the life force of the artist…Drawing is the most direct, closest to the true self, the most natural liberation of man.”

Complete List of Artists

Modern Masters Pierre Bonnard Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones Rodolphe Bresdin Paul Cézanne J-B-C Corot Eugene Delacroix J-A-D Ingres Paul Klee Edouard Manet Henri Matisse Emile Nolde Camille Pissarro Odilon Redon Théodore Rousseau Edouard Vuillard For a complete list of the provenance and notes on the Modern Masters, click here.

Contemporary Artists Geoffrey Chadsey Claire Cowie Marcelino Gonçalves Patrick Holderfield Roy McMakin Jeffry Mitchell Shaun O’Dell Mary Ann Peters Meg Peterson Susan Russell Hall Collin Shutz Keith Tilford Laura Vandenburgh

Susan Russell Hall Pulmonary Atresia, 2006 Carbon Dust on Polypropylene Paper 8” x 8”	Susan Russell Hall Normal Pediatric Heart¸ 2006 Carbon Dust on Polypropylene Paper 8” x 8”	Collin Shutz Juggler, 2004 Ink and watercolor on paper 12 ¾” x 9 ½”	Collin Shutz Rise, 2004 Ink and watercolor on paper 19 ¾” x 25 ¼”
Shaun O’Dell Original Page from the Book, “Last Stand of the Invisible Hand, 2006 Ink on paper 8 1/2" x 11"	Shaun O’Dell Original Page from the Book, “Last Stand of the Invisible Hand, 2006 Ink on paper 8 1/2" x 11"	Shaun O’Dell Original Page from the Book, “Last Stand of the Invisible Hand, 2006 Ink on paper 8 1/2" x 11"	Laura Vandenburgh Three Mountains, 2005 Graphite and Marker 18 1/8” x 30”
Laura Vandenburgh Furry Green, 2005 Graphite and Marker 15” x 22 ½”	Jeffry Mitchell Untitled Detail from Sketch Book¸2006 Mixed Media on paper	Jeffry Mitchell Untitled Detail from Sketch Book¸2006 Mixed Media on paper	Marcelino Gonçalves Martin (at 22), 2005, Oil and graphite on gessoed paper 17"x14
Patrick Holderfield Arson #10, 2006 Mixed media on Bristol Board 14" x 17"
Pierre Bonnard Still Life with Baskets of Fruit Watercolor and pencil on paper 14¾” × 10” Stamped signature lower left	Pierre Bonnard Nude at the Bath, circa 1912 (Nue a toilette) Pencil on paper 7¼” × 4 7/8” ,	Pierre Bonnard Nu a sa toilette, c. 1910 Sanguine on paper 13 7/8” × 8 5/8” Stamped with signature and initials	Rodolphe Bresdin Mother and Time, 1857 (La mère et le temps) Pen and ink on paper 4¾” × 2 7/8” Signed and dated lower left
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones Portrait Head of a Man Red and black chalk on paper 15¼” × 11¾” Signed with initials and dedicated to A. I.	Paul Cezanne Head of Paul Cézanne, Jr., c. 1880 (Tête de Paul Cézanne fils) Pencil on paper 8 3/8” × 5 1/8”	Paul Cezanne Study of Heads: Paul Cézanne, Jr. and a Child, c. 1886 - 7 (Etudes de têtes: Paul Cézanne fils et un enfant) Pencil on blue paper 4¾” x 8½” Numbered (by Chappuis?) on verso: XXIX	Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Houses Seen Through the Trees, 1835-1840 Pencil on blue-grey paper 9 1/8” × 15¼” Estate sale stamp lower left: Lugt 460a e
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot Scene in the Italian Countryside, 1825-27 Pencil on wove paper 8½” × 12½” Watermark: Leone XII PON.M 1824/Fabriano Estate sale stamp lower left: Lugt 460a	Henri-Edmond Cross Trees Watercolor on paper 6¾” × 10 3/8” Stamped lower left	Edgar Degas Study of a Horse, c. 1868-72 Pencil on paper 12 1/8” × 7½” Artist's studio stamp verso: Lugt 657	Eugene Delacroix Algerian Woman, c. 1832 (Juive du Maroc) Pen and ink on paper 8 3/8” × 5¼” Initialed lower left
Eugene Delacroix The Sea and Cliffs near Dieppe, 1851 (La mer et les falaises près de Dieppe, avec reprise de la mer se brisant contre la paroi à droite) Watercolor and pencil on paper 10¼” × 15½” Dated lower right; Stamped lower left: Lugt 838a	Eugene Delacroix Moroccan Scene, 1832 Brown wash and pencil on paper 6” × 3¾” Estate stamp lower left: Lugt 838a	Eugene Delacroix Two Studies of a Lion's Skull Pencil on paper 8” × 12¼” Estate stamp bottom center: Lugt 838a	Paul Klee Nude in Spiraling Movement, 1933 (Akt in geschraubter Bewegung) Pencil on paper 16¼” × 12 5/8” Signed lower left Titled and inscribed on the original mount by Klee: 1933 Y 8
Edouard Manet Two Almonds (Deux amandes) Watercolor on paper 7 7/8” × 4 7/8” Lochard number 228	Edouard Manet Almond Branch, (Amandes) Watercolor on paper 8” × 4 7/8” Lochard number 243	Henri Matisse Dina Viernay au chevalet, 1941 Pen and ink on paper 16 1/8" × 20 7/8" (41.0 × 53.0 cm) Signed lower right and inscribed: Matisse - juillet	Odilon Redon Study of a Man's Back and a Melancholy Angel circa 1860 Pencil on paper 11 3/8” × 8¾” Signed lower left
Theodore Rousseau The Hamlet behind the Trees, 1844 Pencil on paper 5 1/8” × 8” Estate stamp, lower right: Lugt 2436	Edouard Vuillard Le Boudoir, 1925 Pencil, sienna, and black crayon on paper 7½” × 5¾” Estate stamp, lower right	Edouard Vuillard Jeune femme assise reveuse, c. 1918 Pencil on paper 6 7/8” × 3 7/8” Stamped with initials, lower righ	Edouard Vuillard Sketches of Three Men Seated, c. 1888-9 Pencil and ink on paper 5 5/8” × 3 5/8” (14.4 × 9.2 cm) Stamped lower right
Edouard Vuillard The Trees (Les arbres) Pencil and watercolor on paper 4 5/8” × 8¼” (11.8 × 20.9 cm) Estate stamped lower right	ANONymous, (French, 18TH Century A View in the Gardens of the Hotel de Terpsichore, 1724-1780 Black and brown ink on paper 3 5/8" diameter Inscribed on reverse of original mount: "Gabriel de Saint Aubin, 1775/1780, 1724-1780, [Hô]tel de Terpsichore (dessin de la danse-fresque)…Rue Chantereune aujord'hui rue de la Victoire…ex hotel Josephine de Banharnais (18 Brumar)"	ANONYMOUS (French School, 19th century) Study of a Man’s Back Charcoal on paper 18 ½” x 12 ½”

 

Claire Cowie
Dwamish (with Island), 2004
Watercolor on paper
19” x 20”

 

Patrick Holderfield
Arson #5, 2005
Mixed media on arches paper
36" x 52"

Mary Ann Peters
in an instant....everything¸2006
Graphite powder, gouache, ink, pencil, water color on polypropelene paper)
11” X 81.25"