Through classroom lectures, museum visits, and studio practice, this course studies the place of drawing since its early modern theorization in the visual arts and in the artistic practice. Drawings can be records of visual observation, or of a speculative thought process; ways of working out ideas, and of presenting plans; they also achieve the status of independent art objects. Students will gain familiarity with drawing as an artistic medium related to major questions about art and society, while also learning fundamental and practical drawing skills that will give deeper insights into theory.