Who's Afraid of Drawing

Drawing - as paper-based work, in whatever technique - is the load-bearing skeleton for much experimentation, a preferred artistic medium for painters and sculptors and, often, the first visualisation of an idea. Drawing acquires its vital force from daily artistic practice; it is not cancelled or corrected because it captures the first formalisation of a creative thought that may not be intended to be shared with the public: its first (and sometimes only) spectator is the artist himself. This book is the outcome of a project of acquisitions conducted over a period of many years which has led to the creation of Pino Rabolini's Collezione Ramo, comprising some 600 drawings by Italian artists spanning a period stretching from the early years of the twentieth century to the 1990s, before art became contemporary. On this occasion approximately one hundred works are presented, illustrating the quality and importance of this artistic medium, and placing Italian production at the cutting edge on the international stage.