The Drawings of Jim Dine

Jim Dine is a consummate draftsman whose images of tools, large-scale nudes, self-portraits, and studies from nature and after antiquity are among the most accomplished and beautiful drawings of our time. This exhibition, the first major survey of Dine's drawings in 15 years, will feature over 100 of the finest examples from the 1970s to the present. During the 1960s, Dine's name was inextricably linked with Pop art. But he made a dramatic shift during the 1970s, devoting himself to drawing from life. Drawings of Jim Dine examines the artist's accomplishment by focusing not only on works on paper but also on drawings in a purer sense: ones that largely incorporate line and rely heavily on materials such as pencil, chalk, and charcoal. Although many examples in the exhibition deviate from this standard, the emphasis is on works that demonstrate the artist's skills as a draftsman and underscore his traditional underpinnings, even as he breaks new ground. Today, drawing remains at the core of Dine's range of expression. Through a restricted assortment of obsessive images, which continue to be reinvented in various guises--birds, Pinocchio, and others--Dine presents compelling stand-ins for himself and mysterious metaphors for his art. Since the last major survey of Dine's drawings, the medium has served as an indispensable component of his creative endeavor, in many ways representing the essence of his artistic achievement.