NEW YORK.- The Dahesh Museum of Art presents "French Master Drawings From The Collection of Muriel Butkin," on view through May 18, 2002. For nearly 30 years, Muriel E. Butkin has been building a collection of more than 450 drawings, almost all of them by French artists working in the 18th and 19th centuries. This exhibition and its accompanying catalogue are a tribute to her remarkable eye and connoisseurship. Well-known artists represented in the exhibition include François Boucher, Edgar Degas, Théodore Géricault, and Jean-François Millet. Those familiar with the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art will already know the Butkin name because, along with her late husband Noah, Muriel Butkin is one of the major donors to that institution. But while her husband concentrated on 19th-century painting, Mrs. Butkin appreciated the intimacy and directness of the drawing medium. She began with artists of the 18th century and later became equally interested in the 19th century. Aside from its depth and quality, her collection is remarkable for the particular taste and approach to art history it reflects. Muriel Butkin developed an appreciation for many accomplished artists well before they received attention from museums and scholars. The eclecticism and variety found in French art, especially of the 19th century, has stimulated her interest far more than popular taste, which centers mostly on Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. Mrs. Butkin’s collection is a promised bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art. This exhibition, which was organized by Carter Foster, Curator of Drawings at the CMA, is the first show at the Dahesh Museum of Art devoted completely to drawings.