This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: The exhibition consisted of 176 drawings from the Musée du Louvre and other French museums, as well as museums in Stockholm, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, and from private collections. The drawings, ranging from the 15th to the 20th century, were by 75 artists, from Jean Fouquet to Paul Cézanne. The exhibition was organized by the French government (L'Association Française d'Action Artistique) and circulated by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. Jacqueline Bouchot-Saupique, curator of drawings at the Louvre, selected the works, prepared the catalogue, and accompanied the exhibition. This was the first major project of the newly established Traveling Exhibition Service of the Smithsonian Institution, directed by Annemarie H. Pope. The special installation was prepared under the direction of Perry B. Cott, assistant chief curator.

Catalog: French Drawings: Masterpieces from Five Centuries, by Jacqueline Bouchot-Saupique. Plantin Press for the Smithsonian Institution, 1952.

Other Venues: Cleveland
Saint Louis
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York