Henry Major, 1889 - 1948 - Ernst Lubitsch - 1925 - T-Shirt

A pencil profile of a man with swept-back dark hair and a cigar between his lips, with a thin curl of smoke rising at the right edge of the sheet.

Visual Elements & Composition

The head faces right against a plain parchment ground, drawn in soft graphite with broad, quick strokes. A few firm contours define the high forehead and strongly modelled nose, while tonal accents around the eye and mouth carry the expression. Hatched shading across the shoulder and lower left anchors the figure, and a collar and tie sit at the base of the neck. The sitter's name, Ernst Lubitsch, is written in cursive beneath the figure, with the artist's signature in the lower centre.

Meaning & Symbolism

The catalogued sitter is Ernst Lubitsch, the German-born film director who moved to Hollywood and became known for witty, sophisticated comedies. The cigar and self-assured profile carry the urbane manner associated with that work, turning the sketch into a recognisable personality rather than a formal likeness. Henry Major created the sheet in 1925, and its caricatural emphasis on nose and profile places it among quick pencil portraits of film personalities from the same years. The loose, fluent line shows how a few economical marks could capture a sitter's character.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

Worn on the body, the profile sits across the chest and shows the drawing's loose line at a comfortable scale, so the cigar and rising smoke become the first thing noticed in conversation. The sketch's plain ground suits a simple tee, letting the face and its wry expression do the work. Its economy of line reads cleanly on a garment that is viewed up close and from the front.