Henri Michaux. The Mescaline Drawings

This stunning catalogue presents The Courtauld's outstanding collection of works by Renaissance artist Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, better known as Parmigianino (1503-1540). This catalogue accompanies a display of works by Parmigianino at The Courtauld, including his famous and enigmatic painting of the Virgin and Child, as well as drawn studies for his most ambitious projects such as the Madonna of the Long Neck and the frescoes of the church of Santa Maria della Steccata in Parma. The latter was the last and most important commission of his life and would have been his triumphal homecoming. Instead, Parmigianino became entangled in his experimental processes and failed to complete it, leading to his brief imprisonment for breach of contract. Fundamentally a draftsman at heart, Parmigianino drew relentlessly during his relatively short life, and around a thousand of his drawings have survived. The Courtauld's collection comprises twenty-four sheets. In preparation for the catalogue, new photography and technical examinations have been carried out on all the works revealing two new drawings that were previously unknown, hidden underneath their historic mounts. They have also helped to better identify connections between some of the drawings and the finished paintings for which they were conceived. The catalogue illustrates the whole Courtauld collection, which also includes two paintings and more than ten prints. As a printmaker, Parmigianino is considered to have been the first to experiment with etching in Italy and was a pioneer of the chiaroscuro woodcut technique. His refined and graceful compositions were much appreciated by his contemporaries and exalted by the artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari (1511-74). This catalogue and display have been curated by Gottardo and Rebecchini in collaboration with former and current research students at The Courtauld, and technical research has been conducted by members of The Courtauld Conservation Institute. A truly collaborative project, the catalogue sheds light on an artist who approached every technique with unprecedented freedom and produced innovative works which were studied and admired by artists and collectors for many years to come.

The Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur, northern Switzerland, is one of the most remarkable of its kind, ranging from superlative Old Master paintings and drawings to exceptional examples of Impressionist art. The catalogue accompanies an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, London, which narrates the story of the collector, Oskar Reinhart (1885?1965), and presents an extraordinary group of masterpieces that are shown outside Winterthur for the first time in the history of the institution. Assembled in the first half of the twentieth century by Oskar Reinhart, the collection ? apart from some donations to the state museum in Winterthur ... opened to the public in 1958 in Reinhart?s beautiful villa ?Am Römerholz?, where it has remained since. A clause in Reinhart?s will, however, explicitly barred the museum from lending to other institutions. For the first time in its history, a rich selection of highlights from the Oskar Reinhart Collection will be displayed outside Switzerland, making the Courtauld exhibition a unique opportunity to appreciate its masterpieces, including major paintings by artists of the generation preceding the Impressionists, such as Goya, Géricault and Courbet. But the focus will be Reinhart?s extraordinary Impressionist and Post-Impressionist holdings, which include some of the greatest paintings of these movements, such as Manet?sgroundbreaking depiction of modern life in Au Café, Toulouse-Lautrec?s striking representation of the female performer Clown Cha-U-Kao and a group of exceptional works by Paul Cezanne. Equally important is a pair of paintings by Van Gogh of the hospital in Arles, where he returned to paint after spending time there as a patient. The Reinhart Collection has close affinities with that of the Courtauld, which provides therefore the perfect setting to stage this unprecedented exhibition.