Samuel Johnson Woolf, 12 Feb 1880 - 3 - Richard Evelyn Byrd - 1928 - T-Shirt

This charcoal and chalk head study shows a young man seen straight on, with his hair combed back and his gaze held level with the viewer.

Visual Elements & Composition

The face fills the frame on a pale cream ground in soft tones of charcoal grey and dark brown, with warm grey in the shadows. Woolf built the modelling in fine charcoal hatching, then lifted the brow and cheek with touches of white chalk. The nose is shaded with a single firm stroke, and the mouth is closed in a composed, slightly reticent line. There are no shoulders, clothing or background, so nothing competes with the features. The artist's signature sits in the lower right corner.

Meaning & Symbolism

The catalogue record names the sitter as Richard Evelyn Byrd, an American naval officer and polar explorer who led expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic in the 1920s and became one of the best-known aviators of his day. The drawing is dated 1928, the year Byrd's Antarctic preparations drew wide public attention. Samuel Johnson Woolf (1880-1948) was an American portraitist, and his charcoal and chalk portraits of prominent men form a substantial part of his work. Direct, unposed head studies like this one were often made as preparatory work or as records of a likeness, and the plain composition gives the sitter a quiet, resolute character.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A single frontal face suits a shirt, where the image sits at the centre of the chest and is seen at conversation distance. Because the drawing is built from one head and one gaze, the design reads clearly from across a room and rewards a closer look at the hatching and chalk highlights.