7Drawing is at the very forefront of contemporary art practice. The radical shift in the treatment and development of drawing since the 1960s has resulted in a renewed status and relevance for it, with some of the most exciting artistic ideas of the last 50 years indebted to its use. This new study looks at three subjects: abstraction and drawing, how drawing came into its own when notions of art and the employment of media were radically challenged; drawing as narrative, borrowing and developing ideas on illustration, cartoon art, and the use of drawing with the moving image; and drawing as engagement, offering a visual description of our environment. Including work by artists such as Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, and Richard Serra, the book demonstrates that drawing is a popular, diverse, and ever-evolving medium.