Drawn by New York

The New-York Historical Society’s drawing collection is one of the earliest assembled in the United States, yet its trove of over 8,000 sheets and 75 rare sketchbooks is surprisingly unknown. Drawn by New York presents over 200 highlights, spanning six centuries, from 16th-century avian watercolours and a Dutch view of New Amsterdam (1650), to the façade of St. Patrick’s Cathedral captured from inside Rockefeller Center by Richard Haas (2002) and representations of the World Trade Center, both before and after September 11th 2001. There are works by Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt and John Singer Sargent, sheets by Asher B. Durand, and a cache of 500 watercolours by John James Audubon (including those for The Birds of America, 1827–38). Over 200 “Outline Drawings” by George Catlin record long-vanished Native American cultures.