For every commercial work released by an artist countless doodles and sketches remain in
sketchbooks unseen by all but a select few. It is a rare treat to see an artist's looser more
playful experiments. These early drafts and creative diversions can reveal new facets of the
artist's process and often constitute a body of work just as valuable as what the artist deems
worthy of the public eye. The Art of the Sketchbook cracks opens the covers of more than thirty
private sketchbooks and reveals the personal work of artists in their leisure. Travel diaries
life studies and wildly imaginative cartoons are just a few of the styles represented here
and the materials and subjects are just as varied. Doublepage presentations show the
sketchbooks in their raw form and artist interviews provide both context for the images and
glimpses into the role sketching plays in each artist's larger body of work.
