James Edward Kelly, born New York City - Edward N. Duryee - ca. 1880-1900 - T-Shirt

This is a pencil and coloured-crayon profile of an elderly bearded man, facing left with his gaze lifted slightly upward.

Visual Elements & Composition

The face and beard are modelled in grey graphite, and they sit against a grey-buff ground that makes up most of the sheet. Warm ochre and yellow strokes run through the hair, beard and shadows, giving the head a faint glow. The hair rises in soft, curling masses above a high forehead and falls behind the ear. A dark coat and a narrow dark cravat knotted at the throat anchor the lower half of the figure. The sheet is signed "Kelly" in the lower right, and a handwritten inscription in the lower left reads "Edward N. Duryea, Born 1796."

Meaning & Symbolism

The profile pose and loose, informal hair and beard follow the conventions of portrait studies made from life, where the artist's attention rests on the character of the face and the shape of the head. The combination of graphite with coloured accents gives the drawing a softer, more personal tone than a formal likeness in uniform or public dress. James Edward Kelly (1855-1933) was an American artist and sculptor who made many quickly drawn, annotated portraits of notable people. Sheets like this one record individuals connected with the artist's circle and the public life of the nineteenth century. The original is held in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A portrait in profile suits a flat, open surface like a chest panel, where the head and collar read clearly at a glance. The cravat and dark coat echo the neckline of a crew tee, so the figure seems to sit at the collar and look out past the shoulder. Because the design is a single, quiet figure rather than a busy scene, it reads calmly up close and across a room.