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

This is a loose pencil-and-ink study of a swimming figure caught mid-gesture, with one arm lifted high and the torso curled into a rounded, twisting shape.

Visual Elements & Composition

The design is built from cream paper tones and faint grey-brown and dark sepia lines, with the cream ground dominating the image. The figure sits in the upper half of an upright sheet, its outline broken into short, sketchy strokes rather than continuous contours. One arm angles toward the upper right, a second limb folds across the body, and the lower portion of the sheet stays open and blank apart from a few faint marks near the lower right. That open space keeps the eye on the rhythm of the gesture.

Meaning & Symbolism

The title names the subject: a body moving through water, arms lifted and torso turned as it rises or dives. Studies of fleeting poses like this drew wide interest from figure artists around the turn of the twentieth century, who worked to capture the momentary shape of a body in action. The drawing reads as a working sketch, the kind a sculptor kept among preparatory papers to test how weight and rhythm shift through a single movement. It comes from Solon Hannibal Borglum (1868-1922), born in Ogden, Utah, an American sculptor known for animal and figurative work, including bronzes of horses and frontier subjects, and brother of Gutzon Borglum, later known for Mount Rushmore.

Wear the Motion

Quick studies like this one are about movement held for an instant, and a tee is a surface that moves with its wearer. The figure's raised arm and curled torso sit across the chest and shoulders, so the gesture shifts with every step and turn. Printed on a crew-neck tee, the sketch carries the sense of a body rising through water wherever it goes.