A group of 75 rare watercolors, pastels and drawings, made from the 1860s through the 1990s by some of America’s greatest artists, will be on view from July 10 through September 5 at Vassar College’s Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, in the traveling exhibition “Graphic Masters: Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum.”

Revealing the central importance to American artists of work on paper, both as studies for creations in other media and as finished works of art in their own right, the exhibition ranges in period from Nineteenth Century masters such as Winslow Homer, John LaFarge and Thomas Moran to modern virtuosos of color such as William H. Johnson and Stuart Davis to contemporary artists Wayne Thiebaud, Jennifer Bartlett and April Gornik.

“Graphic Masters” is one of five exhibitions featuring the museum’s collections that are touring the nation through 2005.

The exhibit includes bold designs for stage settings, book illustrations, studies for paintings and spontaneous creations that reveal the artist’s though processes and working methods. Works range from Thomas Moran’s dramatic views of Yellowstone Park, to Charles Burchfield’s intense interpretations of the American landscape, to Carolyn Brady’s image of a flower-bedecked breakfast table in summertime Maine.

Vivid images in glowing color by Stuart Davis and William H. Johnson, as well as bold, black and white abstractions by Willem de Kooning and Mel Bochner show the diversity of approaches that America’s most accomplished artists have taken in their drawings.

Admission to the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center is free. The center is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm, and Sunday, 1 to 5 pm. For information, 845-437-5632 or www.fllac.Vassar.edu.