"At first glance “Storied Past: Four Centuries of French Drawings From the Blanton Museum of Art,” at the Grey Art Gallery, looks like a dreary affair: a gathering of little-known draftsmen, almost all of them beholden to the Academy. Give it time, though, and like a dull professorial type after a few gin and tonics it may surprise you with sudden flights of vivacity."

New York City (February 6, 2012)—Throughout history artists have sought new and innovative ways to tell stories through visual means. Storied Past: Four Centuries of French Drawings from the Blanton Museum of Art, on view at New York University’s Grey Art Gallery from April 17 through July 14, 2012, presents French perspectives on dramatic narrative from the 16th through 19th centuries. Biblical, historical, mythological, and contemporary characters abound in drawings by artists such as Jacques Callot, François Boucher, Théodore Rousseau, Jean-Louis Forain, and Théophile Alexandre Steinlen. Organized by the Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin, the exhibition features more than 50 works and reveals the expressive and technical range of French drawing through preliminary sketches, compositional studies, figure studies, and finished drawings. A companion exhibition, French Art from NYU’s Collection, will be on view in the Grey’s Lower Level Gallery.