Drawings, pastels, prints and watercolors: Renoir's works on paper provide crucial insight into his instantly recognizable Impressionist paintings Published with RMN-Grand Palais, Musée d'Orsay, and Morgan Library & Museum. The paintings of Pierre-Auguste Renoir have become icons of Impressionism. Although his works on paper are less widely known, drawing remained central to his artistic practice even as his interests and ambitions changed over the course of a long career. This book explores the ways in which Renoir used paper to test ideas, plan compositions and interpret both landscape and the human figure. Renoir Drawings features more than 110 drawings, pastels, watercolors, prints and a small selection of paintings, enabling readers to engage with Renoir's creative process while offering insights into his artistic methods over five decades. Thematic sections cover the full span of the artist's career, ranging from academic studies he made as a student, to on-the-spot impressions of contemporary urban and rural life, to finished, formal portraits, to intimate sketches of friends and family completed late in life. In-depth case studies of favored themes and preparatory work for landmark canvases further illuminate Renoir's drawing practice. Together with Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was a founder of the style that became known as Impressionism, and one of its most prolific exponents. He was described by Herbert Read as "the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to Watteau."

[The] Morgan Library’s 'Renoir Drawings' exhibition—and the catalog from DelMonico Books—comes as something of a revelation, an inventory of casual experimentation, intimate arrangements, and post-painting records. If you love Renoir, there’s a lot to learn—and the same might be said if you don’t harbor any affection for him at all. -- Dodie Kazanjian * Vogue *
[The] drawings at the Morgan are quieter, closer to the bone, and, in a way, let us see more of what Renoir felt, when compared to the detailed paintings he made... It’s a privilege to become more intimate with his experiments in perception and the evocative beauty of things being left unfinished. -- Hilton Als * The New Yorker *
Though much less seen, this body of work has been as divisive among artists, critics and the public, and for just as long, as his painting has. -- Dale Berning Sawa * The New York Times *