In the appreciation of art, they say the eye is like a muscle. It needs training and regular workouts. Unfortunately, you could pass through an entire academic study of art history and never have the chance to look at great work up close. No wonder academia is besotted with art theory. With only slides and reproductions, the eye becomes weak and the head takes over.

The artist and family friend Tom Goldenberg is someone who has overcome this deficiency. He has developed his own art through a close study of drawings through history. Now he is offering a course to bring this study to others. It is my pleasure to endorse it and bring it to the attention of all. And I would be remiss if I did not, because I join the course whenever possible and have taken a great deal away from it already.

Professor Tom builds his class through a little known resource in New York: He reserves the private study rooms in New York's major museums and hand selects drawings from the collections, which are brought out on a table for the class to see. Tom encourages his class to look at the work, without glass, long and close, and then discuss it. The course meets once a week in the afternoons and is open to everyone. With no theoretical jargon to get in the way, the course also requires no prior experience. Everyone benefits from the discipline of close looking.

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