Monkey

Georges Seurat

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Seurat imparted a timeless, idealized appearance to this monkey by showing the animal in strict profile, with minimal detail, and independent of a setting. He defined the essential aspects of the monkey in light and shade, not through line, using hatching and cross-hatching in Conté crayon and retaining the paper support as the light source. This study is one of many that Seurat made for "La Grande Jatte" (1886, Art Institute of Chicago), the canonical modern image of the Parisian bourgeoisie enjoying their leisure on a Sunday afternoon.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art