For long time I have been particularly interested in drawing, and I have written about a number of artists’ drawings and works on paper, which some people might consider of less interest or importance than so-called major works. The artists I have paid particular attention to, as well as written about a range from such well-known figures as Joan Mitchell, Jasper Johns, and Brice Marden, to the lesser-known Arpita Singh, Josh Marsh, and Angela Dufresne.
This interest in drawing started years ago, in the early 1980s, when I used to travel around town with Paul Cummings (1933 – 1997), who was the adjunct curator of drawings at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1975-1987), to look at drawings by artists as different as Paul Cadmus, Jim Nutt, David Smith, and A. R. Penck. He taught me a lot about looking. One thing he said has stuck in my mind all these years: “You can’t lie in a drawing.” I never got around to asking him what he meant that afternoon, while we were eating lunch in a midtown French restaurant, and I wish I did...