Solon H. Borglum, born Ogden, UT - Indian - n.d. - T-Shirt

A soft pencil head study shows a man's face turned in three-quarter view, eyes lowered and features set in heavy shadow.

Visual Elements & Composition

The face is built from broad, smooth planes of graphite tone on cream paper. The heaviest shadow gathers along the brow, the jaw and the lower edge of the chin, while the lightest passages are left open on the forehead and cheek. Vertical hatching to the right of the head suggests long hair falling behind it. The outline of the skull dissolves softly, so the eye settles on the mass of the face rather than on fine detail. The palette is restrained: cream, olive grey and deep grey-green.

Meaning & Symbolism

Head studies like this one concentrate on the planes and weight of a face, so the figure's character comes from the shadows and the set of the features. The downcast eyes and closed mouth give the drawing a quiet, inward expression. The catalogue title, Indian, places it within portrait-type work of the period, where such images often served as studies of a type rather than portraits of a named individual.

The drawing is by Solon Hannibal Borglum (1868 to 1922), an American sculptor born in Ogden, Utah. He trained in Paris under the animalier Emmanuel Frémiet and is best known for animal sculpture, horses above all. This head study shows the same attention to form that governed his sculpture. The original is held in the Smithsonian American Art Museum collection.

Worn Close, Read in Motion

A tee places the face at chest height, so the drawing is seen from across a room and up close as the wearer moves. The tonal range, from open cream to deep shadow, shifts with every turn of the body, the way the shadows on a living face do. The quiet expression stays with the wearer throughout the day.