As art museums and galleries around the country tighten their belts in an effort to weather the fallout from the economic crisis, Americans are getting unprecedented glimpses into the seldom-explored sections of their museums’ permanent collections. That’s true as well at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery (1285 Elmwood Ave.) which, even before the markets crashed, made a commitment to reaching more deeply and frequently into its collection. “In Good Company,” a show opening today and running through Jan. 2, mines the gallery’s extensive collection for intriguing figurative drawings from 47 artists, including Georges Seurat, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Robert Motherwell and Robert Longo.

Seurat’s 1884-85 conte crayon on paper drawing, “La Nounou (The Wet Nurse),” was a study for his famous pointillist painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte—1884,” which recently received star billing in MusicalFare Theatre’s production of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Sunday in the Park with George.”

The exhibition is focused on the human form and disparate ways in which artists portray it to communicate a sensation, implication or emotion. “These works, bare and pure, help us see ourselves and our interactions with others in new and traditional ways,” writes Albright-Knox curatorial assistant Ilana Chlebowski, who organized the show.

For more information, call 882-8700 or visit www.albrightknox.org.

—Colin Dabkowski