Untitled

Artist Stanley William Hayter British, 1901 - 1988

Date1944

MediumInk drawing, heavy wove paper

DimensionsSheet: 12 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. (32.4 x 19.7 cm)
Overall (Sight): 11 x 7 in. (27.9 x 17.8 cm)
Frame Dimensions: 12 3/4 x 8 3/4 in. (32.4 x 22.2 cm)

ClassificationsDrawings

Credit LineGift of Charles F. Beesen to The Murray Collection in memory of Terry A. Murray

Object number1995.10.8

On View

Not on view

Collections

Modern and Contemporary Art
Works on Paper

SignedSigned in black ink with same pen as used on drawing, cursive, lower right: "Hayter 44"

DescriptionAbstract line drawing of two figures, one adult male reaching out towards a smaller figure with his right arm. Both appear to be looking out to sea towards a Viking ship. A bird of prey with open beak dives toward the figures. The hand of the larger figure reaches towards it.

Originally cataloged as a lithograph, probably because of Hayter's primary reputation as a leading 20th-century printmaker. He founded of Atelier 17 in Paris in 1927 and ran another branch of it in NYC from 1940-1950; working with many of the leading artists of his day. However, the overlapping of strokes with resulting darker, denser lines, the pooling of ink at the end of strokes and the difference in reflectivity with the ink having a shine where it is thicker all indicate that this is an ink drawing. See especially the dots along the "arm" that reaches from the large figure to the smaller, also the head and torso of the larger figure with multiple short and overlapping strokes. Note also that there is no edition number evident.

The heavy wove manila-colored paper has deckled left and top edges. The top also has an impressed line, but there are no others on the sheet. This is not a plate mark associated with this image as there are no other impressions along the similarly wide margins at left, right and bottom. Hayter was likely "recycling" paper that once had an area of printing or had been previously used in a test run at the press.

The wiry line quality recalls three-dimensional wire figures by Alexander Caldwell.

Exhibition History"Director's Choice: Focus on Modernism." Hoopes Gallery. The Hyde Collection. April 5- September 14, 2008.ProvenanceNew York, NY, Terry A. Murray
Ithaca, NY, Charles F. Beesen (by inheritance)
1995, Glens Falls, NY, The Hyde Collection Trust