It’s easy to think of drawing as an exercise for students to learn technique or as a first step for artists conceptualizing a painting or sculpture.

But the Ackland Art Museum’s new exhibit, Genius and Grace: François Boucher and the Generation of 1700, celebrates the many merits of drawing in its own right: “drawing as artistic practice, drawing as conceptual practice, drawings as objects of aesthetic delight,” in the words of head curator Peter Nisbet.

The exhibit contains eighty drawings by eighteenth-century French artists, and is centered around the work of Boucher, the most famous of the group. But the name doesn’t have to ring a bell for the work to resonate with visitors.

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Nisbet says one of the reasons the Ackland chose this exhibition was that it fits with the museum’s connection to the university. “This is a hotbed of French eighteenth-century studies,” he said. “It’s one of the leading places in the country to study French art.”

My visit to Genius and Grace as part of the Ackland’s “Scholars’ Breakfast” confirmed that hotbed status. Graduate students and professors buzzed about the composition and influences of various pieces, and had a much firmer grasp of the term “rococo” than I could seem to gather.

None of the names on the gallery plaques were familiar to me. But I agree with Nisbet’s analysis that the draw of the exhibit isn’t name recognition, but rather the fact that it offers “an engagement with the quality of the work, the media, the skill.”

The Ackland has created an experience that encourages visitors to engage in more ways than simply looking at art. French Baroque music plays as you walk through the space. The gallery is open and spacious, with some Boucher works grouped together but others spread throughout to make visual connections.The setup encourages you to wander rather than follow a narrative set by the curators.

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Upon entering the gallery you’ll find a line of magnifying glasses to borrow for your tour of Genius and Grace. When I tried one out, I realized it changed my perception of the work I peered at – I was no longer contemplating the scene on display in the drawing, but rather each individual stroke of the chalk or pencil chosen by the artist. Some might not want to examine every inch of every work, but Nisbet said, “Even having the magnifying glasses here sends a message: look long, look closely.” IMG_5590

Additionally, a room outside the exhibit has been turned into an atelier du dessin, or drawing studio. You can try your hand at chalk or pencil sketches like the artists of the Generation of 1700 or experiment with some updated drawing tools like an iPad app. And while all of the works in Genius and Grace are on loan, one of the Ackland’s other galleries now displays the museum’s own collection of eighteenth-century drawings, from France and elsewhere, to continue the conversation.

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I learned that some works in the exhibit were originally intended for display, while others were used to plan designs for paintings, tapestries, or even ceiling decoration. But all were done by artists well into their careers, with their styles and techniques well-established. I left with an appreciation for the sheer range of drawing techniques and media used by this group of artists – one pairing that caught my eye, for instance, was a simple ink drawing of Chinese men next to an intricate pastel portrait of a nobleman. The strength of the works in Genius and Grace and their arrangement by the Ackland should impress scholars and novices alike.

Genius and Grace: François Boucher and the Generation of 1700 runs through April 5.