Large Drawings

GREAT SHOWS WERE HERE, THERE AND EVERTYWHERE

By John RUSSELL

Where art was concerned, 1985 was a great year for the airlines. To keep abreast of the times, concerned people had to catch British art in New Haven, the treasures of Liechtenstein in New York, the English country house in Washington, Christo's latest gift wrap on the Pont Neuf in Paris and Indian art in many of its guises all over the United States. The best new installation of contemporary American art was not in this country at all, but in the new galleries devoted to the Saatchi collection in London. The devotee of Spanish 17th-century painting had only himself to blame if he did not high-tail it down to the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth. We saw more historic Japanese helmets at the Japan Society in New York than we could hope to find in a tour of Japan, and for the enthusiast of European Old Master drawings a visit to the Getty Museum in Malibu, Calif.,was mandatory. This was not a year for the stay-at-home.

New York Times • Arts • page 31 • 1,507 words