I owe special thanks to Stephen Talasnik, who Ūrst broached the idea of the working drawing as a viable premise for a gallery exhibition and whose philosophical approach to drawing helped lay its conceptual foundation.

The exhibition was organized over the course of a six-month sabbatical from my position at the Visual Resources Collection of the Cooper Union Library. I owe a deep debt of gratitude to Elizabeth Vajda, Head Librarian; to my colleagues, Ulla Volk, Carol Salomon and Julie Castelluzzo; and to my assistant, Dana Felder, for assuming my duties while I was away. It is exceptionally gratifying to acknowledge the enthusiasm that greeted the idea of a working drawings exhibition from all three of Cooper Union's schools — the School of Art, the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture and the Albert Nerkin School of Engineering — and from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. I would like to thank in particular Dean John Hejduk of the the School of Architecture and Professor Jean LeMée, Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, for their wide-ranging discussions that helped establish the direction of the show. Other members of the Cooper community who contributed their valuable time and effort are Kim Shkapich, Director of the Architecture Archive; Clark Weiman, Project Manager of the Infrastructure Institute; Professor Catherine Panchyk of the Department of Mechanical Engineering; and Carol Bushell, Associate Director of Alumni Relations.

I am also deeply grateful to those whose efforts on behalf of the participants in the show helped to make the exhibition a reality, especially Arthur Solway and Peter Blum of the Peter Blum Gallery for David Rabinowitch; Kate Stirling, Jacob Alspector and Tala Klinck of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects; Rachel Barenblat for Jenny Holzer; and Hope Cohn for Frank Stella.

I would like to express my immense appreciation of and admiration for the extraordinary individuals whose work is on display. By providing the public with a glimpse of their creative process, they have extended themselves in an uncommonly personal way, with unhesitating openness and trust.

A final note of thanks to my wife, Margaret, whose insightful critiques shaped my contributions to this catalog, and whose steadfast love and encouragement hold the key to the true meaning of splendor.

Thomas Micchelli