Page of a Sketchbook with Head Studies, 1912 - 1913

The three edges lightly colored in red, the rounded upper and lower right corners and the irregularly cut left edge suggest that this sheet was taken from a sketchbook. Loose sheets that can be attributed to sketchbooks and capture artistic ideas and drafts are found frequently. They provide important evidence of the artistic process and often document initial ideas that are later executed in works of art. The current sheet shows the sketch of a reclining figure above which there is a row of bow-shaped elements. This motif could be connected to the lost 1913 painting Resurrection (Graves). Below it, there are hastily sketched faces with rather pensive expressions; only the two heads to the left convey an impression of surprise.

KJ, 2024