Toward the end of January each year for more than a decade, New York drawings dealers on the Upper East Side (as well as a handful of their visiting out-of-town and European colleagues) have opened exhibitions to coincide with the week of master drawings sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

The weather conditions for which the city is notorious at this time of year (the locals excavating their vehicles from monstrous snow drifts or skiing down Fifth Avenue to midtown offices are among the seasonal entertainments) deter all but the most dedicated drawings dealers, curators, scholars and collectors, who come not only to attend the sales and openings, and, of course, to buy art, but also to visit the exhibitions and scholarly events hosted by some of the city’s museums during the week (see "Exhibitions" sidebar).

Just a year ago, many of the gallery shows were taken in hand by the New York dealer Margot Gordon and the London dealer Crispian Riley-Smith, who together launched an official event called Master Drawings New York, modeled on the July event in London that Riley-Smith introduced in 2001. As Gordon describes it, "It seemed a perfect time to do a similar event in New York. We decided to show drawings from the 15th into the 20th centuries; people can get a historical view of drawings this way. And the price range is intended to be very broad, too."

While some of the major dealers declined to be included in the new venture, most of the participants seem to have been pleased by the results; 12 will exhibit again this year, joined by several dealers new to the event. Dealers who become part of the official week, which runs from January 18 to 26, are given listings in a special leaflet and on the Web site (masterdrawingsinnewyork.com), and equal publicity.

"It was logical to repeat this in New York," says Riley-Smith, who will be offering Dutch drawings of the 18th and 19th centuries this year. "You are dealing with unique objects, and the crossover between clients is pretty significant. Clients need to shop around, and this is the easiest way to do it, when there is a lot going on." And in all this, of course, "there’s a clear benefit for the dealers as well as the auction houses, which have been very supportive of it, too."

And for the new collector, the official organization of Drawings Week simply makes navigating the galleries easier than it ever was. "Everyone gains from it," says London dealer Emanuel von Baeyer, who will show in New York again this year. "The leaflet helps people make their way around the galleries. It makes it more accessible because most of the New York drawings trade is by appointment, unlike in Europe where you have more walk-in galleries. This event makes people aware that they can come by and simply discuss drawings."

Armin Kunz of C. G. Boerner in New York says that like many of the drawings dealers, "we originally decided to sign up because we were doing a show anyway. But last year our experience was that it brought in an entirely new clientele. Even on the last weekend we had 50 people coming through." New York dealer Marianne Elrick-Manley observes, "People used to go around the galleries on a Saturday; Master Drawings Week gives the same feeling. It’s more intimate than a regular fair. I get to know the people who come in and I can give them some more attention." Events like this undoubtedly go some way to diminish the insider status of what has always been a particularly conservative area of the market, a sense that is especially evident if you talk to the younger dealers. Stephen Ongpin, a London drawings dealer who has been coming to New York in January for some years, argues, "Most of us would say we don’t want it to be this little closed world. An event like this shows the novice collector that it is not that nerve-racking to ring the bell and walk into a gallery on the fourth floor. It is a small world but I don’t think most dealers want it to stay rarefied."