Elihu Vedder, American, 1836 – 1923 - figure study- design for a fountain - ca. 1890 v2 - T-Shirt

A chalk study of a nude youth seen from behind, arms flung wide beneath a spiralling form, drawn on taupe-grey paper around 1890.

Visual Elements & Composition

The figure fills the centre of the sheet, shown from directly behind with its back and legs held in a planted stance. One arm bends with the fist raised near the shoulder while the other reaches to the upper edge, the wrist turned. A ribbon-like spiral rises above the head and curves across the top margin, and the figure stands on a scroll-shaped base at the foot of the sheet. Pale white chalk lifts the shoulders, spine and buttocks, while charcoal outlines define the calves and heels. Taupe-grey ground dominates the palette, with cream and pale grey tones carrying the highlights.

Meaning & Symbolism

Elihu Vedder (1836 to 1923) was an American painter and draughtsman who worked much of his career in Rome and on Capri, known for symbolic and mythological paintings and for his illustrations to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. This study was made for a fountain, and the spiral above the head reads as the rising jet of water, with the upraised arms suggesting a figure caught in the spray or lifting it. The turned back and idealised human form draw on the long classical habit of pairing the body with a natural or allegorical attribute. The drawing shows the careful life study that underlies Vedder's painted compositions.

Where the Drawing Meets the Shirt

Seen from behind, the figure turns its back to the viewer, so the design reads as a single figure that wraps the chest and sweeps upward across the shirt. The spiral and raised arms open the composition outward, leaving the figure grounded at the hem like the scroll base at the foot of the sheet. Wearing it puts the study on the body in the same way Vedder intended the figure to be seen, from the back, in an open composition.