Looking at the sketches a famous artist made is a bit like peeking under a Victorian lady's skirt—you get a glimpse of the fabulous underpinnings and complicated constructions (but not more than that, excuse us!) Harvard's Fogg Art Museum owns a large collection of sketchbooks from artists of the 18th through 20th centuries, and 10 are showcased here. Frenchman Jacques-Louis David shows a precise, measured approach in his Sketchbook No. 14 from 1805-06. This book outlines the many people shown in the enormous painting of "The Coronation of Napoleon I." American artists Benjamin Champney and Sanford Gifford both sketched more pastoral scenes in New England. These artists spent their summers drawing nature and took their sketchbooks back to the city to paint over the winters. German-born George Grosz's sketchbook of 1950-51 brings us smack into the modern world with stark skyscrapers juxtaposed against mousetraps and an occasional nude. What was going on underneath these artists' work? Lift a page's corner and take a peek.
