Ketty Gottardo

This fascinating catalogue explores the work of Franco-Belgian poet and visual artist Henri Michaux and an experience that transformed his artistic life: trying the psychedelic drug mescaline. In 1955 the Franco-Belgian poet and visual artist Henri Michaux (1899—1984) tried the psychedelic drug mescaline, an experience that transformed his artistic life and provoked an outpouring of writings and distinctive drawings. Accompanying an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, this fascinating catalogue celebrates these unique drawings. This catalogue and exhibition celebrate the unique Mescaline Drawings by the Franco- Belgian poet and visual artist Henri Michaux (1899–1984). In January 1955, as part of an experiment prompted by his publisher, Michaux, who was then 56 years old, tried the psychedelic drug mescaline, a product derived from the Mexican peyote cactus. The aim of the experiment was to investigate the effect of this type of non-addictive drug on the creative act. Michaux considered these experiences to be a portal into the inner workings of the mind. The investigation transformed Michaux’s artistic life and provoked an outpouring of writings and distinctive drawings during the 1950s and 1960s, the latter being at the centre of this exhibition. Created after the effects of mescaline (and at times other drugs such as hashish, LSD and psilocybin) had passed, the drawings are the astonishing transcriptions of the artist’s sensation, rendered as if by a sort of shuddering seismograph. This display and the accompanying catalogue, which present works rarely seen in the UK, will showcase Michaux’s extraordinary experience, one that pushed the limits of what the essence of drawing is.EXHIBITION SCHEDULE The Courtauld Gallery, London 14 February – 26 May 2025 Published by Paul Holberton Publishing

Accompanying an exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, London, this catalogue presents an extraordinary group of masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection that are shown outside Winterthur for the first time in the history of the institution. The Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur, 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 Switzerland for the first time in the history of the institution. Assembled in the first half of the twentieth century by Oskar Reinhart, the collection opened to the public in 1958 in Reinhart’s beautiful villa ‘Am Römerholz’, where it has remained ever since. For the first time in its history, a rich selection of highlights from the Oskar Reinhart Collection ‘Am Römerholz’ will be displayed outside Switzerland, making the Courtauld exhibition a unique opportunity to appreciate its masterpieces. These include major paintings by artists of the generation preceding the Impressionists, such as Goya, Géricault and Courbet. At its heart will be Reinhart’s extraordinary Impressionist and Post-Impressionist holdings, which include some of the greatest paintings of these movements, such as Manet’s groundbreaking depiction of modern life in Au Café, Toulouse-Lautrec’s striking representation of the female performer ClownCha-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. The publication features essays exploring the formation and significance of Oskar Reinhart’s remarkable collection, followed by detailed entries on each of the works included in the exhibition.EXHIBITION SCHEDULE The Courtauld Gallery, London 14 February – 26 May 2025 Published by Paul Holberton Publishing

This catalogue accompanies the first exhibition devoted to a fascinating group of drawings by the Anglo-Swiss Henry Fuseli (1741–1825), one of eighteenth-century Europe’s most idiosyncratic, original and controversial artists. Best known for his notoriously provocative painting The Nightmare, Fuseli energetically cultivated a reputation for eccentricity, with vividly stylised images of supernatural creatures, muscle-bound heroes, and damsels in distress. While these convinced some viewers of the greatness of his genius, others dismissed him as a charlatan, or as completely mad. Fuseli’s contemporaries might have thought him even crazier had they been aware that in private he harboured an obsessive preoccupation with the figure of the modern woman, which he pursued almost exclusively in his drawings. Where one might have expected idealised bodies with the grace and proportions of classical statues, here instead we encounter figures whose anatomies have been shaped by stiff bodices, waistbands, puff ed sleeves, and pointed shoes, and whose heads are crowned by coiffures of the most bizarre and complicated sort. Often based on the artist’s wife Sophia Rawlins, the women who populate Fuseli’s graphic work tend to adopt brazenly aggressive attitudes, either fixing their gaze directly on the viewer or ignoring our presence altogether. Usually they appear on their own, in isolation on the page; sometimes they are grouped together to form disturbing narratives, erotic fantasies that may be mysterious, vaguely menacing, or overtly transgressive, but where women always play a dominant role. Among the many intriguing questions raised by these works is the extent to which his wife Sophia was actively involved in fashioning her appearance for her own pleasure, as well as for the benefit of her husband. By bringing together more than fi fty of these studies (roughly a third of the known total), The Courtauld Gallery will give audiences an unprecedented opportunity to see one of the finest Romantic-period draughtsmen at his most innovative and exciting. Visitors to the show and readers of the lavishly illustrated catalogue will further be invited to consider how Fuseli’s drawings of women, as products of the turbulent aftermath of the American and French Revolutions, speak to concerns about gender and sexuality that have never been more relevant than they are today. The exhibition showcases drawings brought together from international collections, including the Kunsthaus in Zurich, the Auckland Art Gallery in New Zealand, and from other European and North American institutions.

The Courtauld is one of the United Kingdom’s great art collections, displayed throughout the magnificent historic setting of Somerset House in central London. This elegant book is a curated selection of its highlights — paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture and decorative arts — each beautifully illustrated and accompanied by an insightful commentary. Notable among these treasures are remarkable Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, including the world-famous A Bar at the Folies-Bergère by Édouard Manet and Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear. This book is also an engaging account of how The Courtauld became an internationally renowned centre for the teaching and research of art history, conservation and curating. It was founded nearly a century ago in the belief that art has the power to enrich people’s lives. The Courtauld continues that mission today, promoting the understanding of the visual arts and offering a place where everyone can find enjoyment and inspiration.