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The exhibition Sketch, Shade, Smudge: Drawing from Gray to Black includes a selection of modern and contemporary drawings from the Busch-Reisinger Museum. Join curator Lynette Roth to explore works by Lotte Laserstein, Max Beckmann, Erwin Spuler, and Willi Baumeister.Sketch, Shade, Smudge: Drawing from Gray to Black (September 12, 2025–January 18, 2026) celebrates the act of drawing using familiar tools—charcoal, chalk, crayon, and graphite. Each material has distinctive properties: charcoal can be intensely rich and velvety, or delicately gray and suggestive, while graphite is slippery, shiny, and easy to erase. Crayon is deeply black and waxy, whereas chalk can be crumbly and diffuse. The creative manipulations of these media—smudging, scraping, and erasing—make them versatile tools for adding intensity, depth, precision, and expression to an artist’s vision.
Led by:
Lynette Roth, Daimler Curator of the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Division of Modern and Contemporary Art
Please check in with museum staff at the Visitor Services desk in the Calderwood Courtyard to request to join the gallery talk. Space is limited, and talks are available on a first-come, first-served basis; no registration is required.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138, United States
