JUDY PFAFF | NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN

Drawing as Practice is the inaugural exhibition at the National Academy of Design’s new location in the Chelsea arts district. Curated in response to the National Academy of Design’s significant collection of more than 8,000 works of American art and architecture, this group exhibition centers on drawing as both the medium and practice connecting the many divergent points of interest that have contributed to the founding and history of the National Academy. With an emphasis on representation, abstraction, and social commentary, Drawing as Practice illustrates drawing as a through-line in the National Academy’s history, one that continues to connect the widely diverse contemporary practices of the nearly 450 active American artists and architects elected by their peers as National Academicians. Drawing as Practice spans nearly two hundred years of drawing, anchored by early examples of life studies from classes held in the first decades of the Academy’s activities. Themes and aesthetic tendencies in the exhibition range from academic drawings that were the result of instructional sessions—which in the 19th and early 20th century centered on the figure and portraits—to non-traditional drawing practices, structures and architecture, abstraction, motion studies, and social commentary.

Drawing as Practice is organized by Sara Reisman, Chief Curator and Director of National Academician Affairs, and Natalia Viera Salgado, Associate Curator, with research and scholarship by Diana Thompson, Director of Collections.

EXHIBITION ARTISTS AND ARCHITECTS
Stan Allen NA / Grace Albee NA (1890-1985) / Richard Artschwager NA (1923-2013) / Dotty Attie NA / Xenobia Bailey / Jennifer Bartlett NA (1941-2022) / Hugo Bastidas NA / James Carroll Beckwith NA (1852-1917) / Judith Bernstein NA / Robert Blackburn NA (1920-2003) / Andrea Blum / Ferdinand Thomas Lee Boyle NA (1820- 1906) / Paul Broches NA / Cecily Brown NA / Paul Cadmus NA (1904-1999) / Charles Shepard Chapman NA (1879-1962) / Asa Cheffetz NA (1896-1965) / Mel Chin NA / James Cutler NA / Moseley Isaac Danforth NA (1800-1862) / Stephen Dean / Anne Deleporte / Mark di Suvero NA / Jim Dine NA / Jackie Ferrara NA / Avram Finkelstein / Charles Gaines NA / Sonia Gechtoff NA (1926 - 2018) / Frank Gehry NA / Emilie Louise Gossiaux / Michael Graves NA (1934 - 2015) / Joanne Greenbaum NA / Charles Gwathmey NA (1938-2009) / Richard John Haas NA / Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds / Samuel Isham NA (1855-1914) / Jasper Johns NA / Alex Katz NA / Stephen Kieran NA / Christine Sun Kim / Sol LeWitt (1928-2007) / Mateo López / LOT-EK / Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) / Robert Mangold NA / Mary Mattingly / John Moore NA / Robert Motherwell NA (1915-1991) / John Newman NA / Nora Maité Nieves / Claes Oldenburg NA (1929 - 2022) and Coosje van Bruggen/ Clifford Owens / Renzo Piano NA / Cesar Pelli NA (1926-2019) / Judy Pfaff NA / Howardena Pindell NA / Jenny Polak and Dread Scott NA / Liliana Porter / Robert Riggs NA (1896-1970) / LJ Roberts / Shellyne Rodriguez / Adam Liam Rose / Zilia Sánchez / Katy Schimert / Catalina Schliebener Muñoz / Joel Shapiro NA / Arlene Shechet NA / Lorraine Shemesh NA / Walter Shirlaw NA (1838-1909) / Elena Sisto NA / Kiki Smith NA / Prentiss Taylor NA (1907-1991) / James Timberlake NA / Billie Tsien NA / Johanna Unzueta / Rafael Viñoly NA (1944-2023) / Michael Waugh/ Claire Weisz NA / Charles Wilbert White NA (1918-1979) / Tod Williams NA / James Wines NA