Drawings and Notes: Books about contemporary drawing

15 February 2017

Books about contemporary drawing

When starting my research on contemporary drawing for Drawing & Notes in 2008, a couple of books were (and are still) of much use. All these books were beautiful sources of inspiration and will be a good start to discover the varied world of contemporary drawing. Beneath you will find a couple of my favorites, but a more complete list (updated regularly) can be found on my list Books on Contemporary Drawing.

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Vitamin D
(Phaidon, 2007) Probably the most influential and inspiring compendium of contemporary drawing. It shows the work of 109 artists, using a wide variety of styles, from representational to abstract. Along with the descriptions by the curators who picked the artists for the book, it was a very rich well for this weblog.

Compass in Hand. Selections From The Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection
(The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2009). This book was published to accompany a major 2009 exhibition in the Museum of Modern Art of the Judith Rothschild Foundation Contemporary Drawings Collection.

Vitamin D2: New Perspectives in Drawing
(Phaidon, 2013)

Contemporary Drawing: From the 1960s to Now
(Katherine Stout, 2015)

Drawing Now: Eight Propositions
(Laura Hoptman, Museum of Modern Art, 2002)

Walk the Line: The Art of Drawing
(Ana Ibarra and Marc Valli, 2013)

Drawing People: The Human Figure in Contemporary Art (Roger Malbert, Thames & Hudson, 2015)

Drawing from The Modern, Volume I: 1880-1940

Drawing from The Modern, Volume 2: 1945-1975

Marcel Dzama: Sower of Discord (2013) is a beautiful monograph about Marcel Dzama's work. Lavishly illustrated and with a foreword by Raymond Pettibon, three original short stories inspired by Dzama’s work by Dave Eggers, an essay by the art historian Bradley Bailey, and an interview with Dzama by the filmmaker Spike Jonze. [Even more books here]