Preliminary Drawings
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Preliminary drawing for the sculpture Diadem
By Seymour Lipton
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary drawing for the sculpture Diadem
Black Crayon on paper, 1957
Signed and dated lower
Category
1950s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Crayon
Preliminary drawing for the sculpture Catacombs
By Seymour Lipton
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary drawing for the sculpture Catacombs
Black crayon on paper, 1971
Signed and dated lower
Category
1970s Abstract Geometric Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Oil Crayon
Preliminary drawing for a sculpture
By Seymour Lipton
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary drawing for a sculpture
Black crayon on paper, 1959
Signed and dated middle right (see
Category
1950s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Crayon
Preliminary drawing for Remy de Gourmont, Couleurs, (Colors, new tales follow...
By Jean-Emile Laboureur
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary drawing for Remy de Gourmont, Couleurs, published in Le Mercure de France
(Colors, new
Category
1920s Art Deco Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Color Pencil
$3,000 / item
H 9 in W 6.25 in
Preliminary drawing for Remy de Gourmont, Couleurs, (Colors, new tales follow...
By Jean-Emile Laboureur
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary drawing for Remy de Gourmont, Couleurs, published in Le Mercure de France
(Colors, new
Category
1920s Art Deco Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Color Pencil
$3,000 / item
H 9 in W 6.25 in
Preliminary drawing for the painting entitled Trapezoids
Located in Fairlawn, OH
the war drawing 3-D perspectives from engineers' plans. Following the war he returned to UW to
Category
1950s Abstract Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Color Pencil
$950
H 7.625 in W 7.5 in
Preliminary Drawing for the color aquatint "New Orleans, Street Gossip"
By Louis Oscar Griffith
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary Drawing for the color aquatint "New Orlaens, Street Gossip"
Signed by the artist in
Category
1910s American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
$1,500
H 9.38 in W 10.75 in
Ronald Searle ink drawings 'Studies for Dynamene'
By Ronald Searle
Located in Petworth, West Sussex
preliminary drawings for ‘A Phoenix Too Frequent’ a comedy by Christopher Fry, 1959)
Ink pen
6.3/4 x 4.3/4 in
Category
20th Century Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink
Charles Hinman, Minimalist Drawing, Mid-Century Modern Geometric Abstract Signed
By Charles Hinman
Located in New York, NY
preliminary drawing for the geometric abstraction painting "Lalande" (1980).
A desirable piece by an artist
Category
1980s Minimalist Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pastel
Charles HinmanCharles Hinman, Minimalist Drawing, Mid-Century Modern Geometric Abstract Signed, 1980
$10,000
H 19.25 in W 25 in D 0.5 in
Gentlemen and Scottie dog at Chess Board, Study for Maxwell House Coffee
By Norman Rockwell
Located in Fort Washington, PA
40.25"
This is a preliminary drawing. It’s a masterful drawing that was mounted long long ago and so
Category
1930s Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Charcoal
Norman RockwellGentlemen and Scottie dog at Chess Board, Study for Maxwell House Coffee, circa 1930s
$95,000
H 23.5 in W 40.25 in
Portrait of Dr. Auguste Soins
By Henri Edmond Cross
Located in Fairlawn, OH
, Lugt 1305a lower right (see photo)
Note: This possibly is the preliminary drawing for the painting
Category
1880s Post-Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
Double sided crayon drawing in colors: Study for "The Shoe" (recto)
By Théophile Alexandre Steinlen
Located in Fairlawn, OH
. 55 and 53
Note: This drawing is a preliminary drawing for the cover illustration for Lucien Puech
Category
1890s Art Nouveau Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Crayon
$7,500
H 19.25 in W 15.375 in
Sketch for 'The X & Its Tails'. 1967
By Alexander Calder
Located in Palo Alto, CA
Sketch for ‘The X & Its Tails’ is an original study and preliminary drawing made by Calder preceding his
Category
1960s Modern Abstract Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Ink, Pen
Late Fall (Spaetherbst) (Abstract, Drawing, Ink)
Located in Kansas City, MO
simple, reduced formal language based on large-format charcoal preliminary drawings. His best-known works
Category
2010s Abstract Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
Materials
Paper, Ink
$455 Sale Price
49% Off
H 9.1 in W 6.5 in
Drawing by Jean-Baptiste Le Prince, 1760
By Jean Baptist Le Prince
Located in Kinderhook, NY
) and likely a preliminary drawing for a painting or a sketch of an earlier work in the Winter Palace
Category
Antique Mid-18th Century European Drawings
Materials
Glass, Giltwood, Paper
Old Master Drawing, Westerkerk Keizersgracht in Amsterdam, 17th century, Dutch
Located in Greven, DE
backside with village church of the 18th century
Chalk and pen on paper
23,5 x 18,5 cm
Preliminary drawing
Category
17th Century Dutch School Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Chalk
$1,821 Sale Price
20% Off
H 9.26 in W 7.29 in
Preliminary Cover, Collier's Magazine
By Earl Oliver Hurst
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Watercolor and Pencil on Board
Signature: Unsigned
Category
20th Century Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Board, Pencil
"Invitation to Murder, " Preliminary Studies
By Edwin Georgi
Located in Fort Washington, PA
Medium: Gouache, Charcoal and Ink
Signature: Unsigned
Invitation to Murder, preliminary studies
Category
1950s Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Charcoal, Ink, Gouache
34th Street Jesus
By Kent Twitchell
Located in Palm Springs, CA
works. He is celebrated for meticulously crafted preliminary drawings that serve as blueprints for his
Category
1990s Realist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
Preliminary Study for Cretan Dancer Bronze
By Boris Lovet-Lorski
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary Study for Cretan Dancer Bronze
Graphite on tracing paper, 1930
Unsigned
Note: The
Category
1930s Art Deco Nude Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
Preliminary Study for a Sculpture Project
By Boris Lovet-Lorski
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary Study for a Sculpture Project
Graphite, charcoal and wash on tracing paper, c. 1930
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Charcoal
Preliminary study for Cretan Dancer bronze sculpture
By Boris Lovet-Lorski
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary study for Cretan Dancer bronze sculpture
Unsigned
Graphite on tracing paper, 1930-1934
Category
1930s Art Deco Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
$4,000
H 6.875 in W 7.125 in
High Holborn, watercolour by Sidney Cardew
Located in London, GB
painted en plein air, employing minimal preliminary drawing and emphasizing wet-into-wet techniques to
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Realist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor
WOMAN WITH OPERA GLASSES (STUDY FOR "IN THE LOGE").
By Mary Cassatt
Located in Portland, ME
preliminary drawings leading up to a finished composition. No Cassatt sketchbooks have survived, but it is
Category
1870s Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Pencil
Loge de Theatre (Preliminary study for a painting)
By Charles Dufresne
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Loge de Theatre (Preliminary study for a painting)
Graphite on paper
Signed in pencil lower left
Category
1910s Impressionist Interior Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
Preliminary Study for the painting Rose and Gold, 1913
By William McGregor Paxton
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Preliminary Study for the painting Rose and Gold, 1913
Graphite on paper, 1913
Signed in pencil
Category
1910s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
$1,200
H 12 in W 8.75 in
Untitled (Study for The Aerialists)
By John Steuart Curry
Located in Fairlawn, OH
, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It is part of a group of preliminary drawings and three finished paintings executed
Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
Oil landscape of Autumn Forest
By David Johnson
Located in Fredericksburg, VA
colored Based on copious preliminary drawings and studies of specific trees in their natural environment
Category
Mid-19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Study for “L’Acropole”
By Paul Delvaux
Located in New Orleans, LA
right)
Watercolor, pen and ink on paper
This preliminary drawing for Paul Delvaux’s greatest
Category
20th Century Post-Impressionist Nude Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Ink, Watercolor, Pen
Three drawings by François Boucher in a mounting by Jean-Baptiste Glomy
By François Boucher
Located in PARIS, FR
), considered to be by the hand of another artist, is inspired by a preliminary drawing by Boucher. This unknown
Category
1750s Old Masters Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Chalk, Ink
$38,337
H 20.5 in W 11.63 in
Head of a Deco Woman (recto) Standing Male Model (verso)
By Paul H. Winchell
Located in Fairlawn, OH
in 1925.
This is a preliminary drawing to a series of class assignments.
From a sketch book
Image
Category
1920s Art Deco Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
$500
H 7.63 in W 4.88 in
Head of a Deco Woman (recto) Standing Male Model (verso)
By Paul H. Winchell
Located in Fairlawn, OH
in 1925.
This is a preliminary drawing to a series of class assignments.
From a sketch book
Image
Category
1920s Art Deco Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Graphite
$500
H 7.63 in W 4.88 in
"In Foreign Parts" Eugene Higgins, Southwestern Pueblo, Modern Figurative
By Eugene Higgins
Located in New York, NY
reacting to the subject rather than preliminary drawing. Higgins was credited with bringing modernism to
Category
1910s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Paper, Watercolor
$1,500
H 22.5 in W 18.5 in
Avigdor Arikha Modernist Israeli Lithograph Jerusalem Landscape Bezalel School
By Avigdor Arikha
Located in Surfside, FL
. He survived thanks to the drawings he made of deportation scenes, which were shown to delegates of
Category
1970s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Lithograph
Avigdor Arikha Modernist Israeli Lithograph Jerusalem Landscape Bezalel School
By Avigdor Arikha
Located in Surfside, FL
. He survived thanks to the drawings he made of deportation scenes, which were shown to delegates of
Category
1970s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Lithograph
Avigdor Arikha Modernist Israeli Lithograph Jerusalem Landscape Bezalel School
By Avigdor Arikha
Located in Surfside, FL
. He survived thanks to the drawings he made of deportation scenes, which were shown to delegates of
Category
1970s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Lithograph
Avigdor Arikha Modernist Israeli Lithograph Jerusalem Landscape Bezalel School
By Avigdor Arikha
Located in Surfside, FL
. He survived thanks to the drawings he made of deportation scenes, which were shown to delegates of
Category
1970s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Lithograph
Avigdor Arikha Modernist Israeli Lithograph Jerusalem Landscape Bezalel School
By Avigdor Arikha
Located in Surfside, FL
. He survived thanks to the drawings he made of deportation scenes, which were shown to delegates of
Category
1970s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Lithograph
Avigdor Arikha Modernist Israeli Lithograph Jerusalem Landscape Bezalel School
By Avigdor Arikha
Located in Surfside, FL
. He survived thanks to the drawings he made of deportation scenes, which were shown to delegates of
Category
1970s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Lithograph
Avigdor Arikha Modernist Israeli Lithograph Jerusalem Landscape Bezalel School
By Avigdor Arikha
Located in Surfside, FL
. He survived thanks to the drawings he made of deportation scenes, which were shown to delegates of
Category
1970s Modern Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Lithograph
High Fashion Elegant Woman with Parasol Umbrella with Geese
By Ruth Eastman
Located in Miami, FL
Golden Age of Illustration preliminary drawing with Art Nouveau influence that was most likely for
Category
1910s Art Nouveau Paintings
Materials
Charcoal, Mixed Media, Gouache, Pencil
$9,500
H 24.5 in W 18 in D 1 in
Galeria Joan Prats - Beach Umbrella Sketch
By Christo
Located in Winterswijk, NL
important part of the large-scale projects were preliminary drawings, project sketches and objects, and
Category
1980s Prints and Multiples
Materials
Color
Original Jean Francois Raffaelli Etching of a Hat Salesman
By Jean Francois Raffaëlli
Located in New York, NY
before the end of his life. More careful with his drawing than color, Raffaelli made a preliminary
Category
1890s French School Portrait Prints
Materials
Etching, Drypoint
$650
H 12 in W 9.75 in D 0.75 in
Studies for Sculpture on Blue Grey Background - Signed Lithograph, #30/60
By Henry Moore
Located in Soquel, CA
her child while sitting on a bench. These were likely preliminary drawings for the various "Maquette
Category
1950s Post-War Figurative Prints
Materials
Laid Paper, Lithograph
$3,950
H 28.5 in W 22.5 in D 0.75 in
Louis XVI Style Gilt-Bronze and Cut-Glass Basket Chandelier, circa 1900
By Pierre Gouthiere
Located in Brighton, West Sussex
Salon Trianon at Versailles for Marie Antoinette. A preliminary drawing for the appliques survives in
Category
Antique Late 19th Century French Louis XVI Chandeliers and Pendants
Materials
Bronze
$52,229
H 35.83 in Dm 31.89 in
'The White Camel', Paris, Cairo, Danish Modernism, De Tretten, Group of Thirteen
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Hansen's 1951 solo exhibition at Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art.
A detailed, preliminary drawing
Category
1930s Animal Paintings
Materials
Plywood, Oil
$14,500
H 23.25 in W 28.5 in D 0.13 in
The Gates - New York Central Park
By Christo
Located in Winterswijk, NL
-scale projects were preliminary drawings, project sketches and objects, and later photographic
Category
20th Century Realist Prints and Multiples
Materials
Color, Offset
Christo - "The Gates New York Central Park" - color offset on heavy paper
By Christo
Located in Winterswijk, NL
of fabric.
An important part of the large-scale projects were preliminary drawings, project sketches
Category
20th Century Realist Prints and Multiples
Materials
Offset
$115 Sale Price
20% Off
H 30.12 in W 19.89 in
Christo - "Wrapped Walk Ways", Loose Park in Kansas City - photo offset
By Christo
Located in Winterswijk, NL
important part of the large-scale projects were preliminary drawings, project sketches and objects, and
Category
20th Century Realist Prints and Multiples
Materials
Offset
$115 Sale Price
20% Off
H 25.2 in W 37.41 in
Grand Bleu, 2025
Located in Porto, 13
was built gradually, layer after layer, without preliminary drawing or imposed composition. The
Category
2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Egyptian "Tree of Life" Tapestry, Influenced by the Ramses Wissa Wassef Workshop
By Ramses Wissa Wassef Workshop
Located in Dallas, TX
create artworks through their own imagination and skill, without preliminary drawings. This approach is
Category
Mid-20th Century Egyptian Egyptian Tapestries
Materials
Wool
$8,260
W 41 in L 60 in
Peter Green Astral Form 1969 Signed Limited Edition Woodcut
Located in Rochester Hills, MI
rather than from extensive preliminary drawings. The initial proofed image may suggest, for example, a
Category
1960s Modern Abstract Prints
Materials
Woodcut
$700
H 38 in W 26.5 in D 1 in
The Evangelist Matthew, after a Russian icon, school of Moscow, 15th century
Located in Segovia, ES
the preliminary drawing is applied and the drawing board is prepared with a special preparation called
Category
1990s Byzantine Mixed Media
Materials
Gold Leaf
$1,437
H 20.48 in W 14.18 in D 1.19 in
Christ Pantocrator after an Russian icon of the 15th Century
Located in Segovia, ES
as well.
Then the preliminary drawing is applied and the drawing board is prepared with a special
Category
1990s Byzantine Mixed Media
Materials
Gold Leaf
$1,121
H 14.97 in W 11.62 in D 1.19 in
Christ Pantocrator" After an Icon in the style of the Moscow School
Located in Segovia, ES
sanded smooth as well.
Then the preliminary drawing is applied and the drawing board is prepared with a
Category
1990s Byzantine Figurative Paintings
Materials
Gold Leaf
$2,156
H 16.54 in W 13.19 in D 1.38 in
"Birth of Christ" after a Russian icon of the 15th century. Oliver Samsinger
Located in Segovia, ES
and now 12 or 14 thin layers of gesso are applied and sanded smooth as well.
Then the preliminary
Category
1990s Byzantine Mixed Media
Materials
Gold Leaf
$3,450
H 26.78 in W 20.48 in D 1.58 in
Saint John The Forerunner after a Russian Icon from the 16th Century
Located in Segovia, ES
thin layers of gesso are applied and sanded smooth as well.
Then the preliminary drawing is applied and
Category
1990s Byzantine Mixed Media
Materials
Gold Leaf
$1,293
H 13 in W 10.04 in D 1.58 in
Virgin of Tijvin, after a Russian icon of the 17th Century.
Located in Segovia, ES
the preliminary drawing is applied and the drawing board is prepared with a special preparation called
Category
1990s Byzantine Mixed Media
Materials
Gold Leaf
$1,321
H 17.33 in W 13 in D 1.19 in
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Preliminary Drawings For Sale on 1stDibs
There is a broad range of preliminary drawings for sale on 1stDibs. There are many Abstract, Art Deco and Post-Impressionist versions of these works for sale. There are many variations of these items available, from those made as long ago as the 19th Century to those made as recently as the 20th Century. If you’re looking to add preliminary drawings that pop against an otherwise neutral space in your home, the works available on 1stDibs include that feature elements of beige, brown, gray, black and more. There have been many well-done artworks of this subject over the years, but those made by Boris Lovet-Lorski, Seymour Lipton, Gil Elvgren, Rolf Armstrong and Oscar Florianus Bluemner are often thought to be among the most beautiful. The range of these distinct pieces — often created in pencil, graphite and crayon — can elevate any room of your home.
How Much are Preliminary Drawings?
Prices for pieces in our collection of preliminary drawings start at $85 and top out at $16,000 with the average selling for $2,500.
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