A catalog accompanying the first exhibition devoted to a fascinating
group of drawings by one of eighteenth-century Europe's most
idiosyncratic, original, and controversial artists.
Best known for his notoriously provocative painting The Nightmare,
Anglo-Swiss painter Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) cultivated a reputation for
eccentricity, with vividly stylized images of supernatural creatures,
muscle-bound heroes, and damsels in distress. While these convinced some
viewers of the greatness of his genius, others dismissed him as a
charlatan, or as completely mad.
By bringing together more than fifty of his works, this volume offers
unprecedented access to see one of the finest draftsmen of the Romantic
period at his most innovative and exciting. Visitors to the show and
readers of the lavishly illustrated catalog will further be invited to
consider how Fuseli's drawings of women, as products of the turbulent
aftermath of the American and French Revolutions, speak to concerns
about gender and sexuality that have never been more relevant than they
are today.
The exhibition showcases drawings brought together from international
collections, including the Kunsthaus Zürich, the Auckland Art Gallery in
New Zealand, and other European and North American institutions.