Solon H. Borglum, born Ogden, UT - The Plunge #1 - n.d. - T-Shirt

A pencil study of a nude male figure poised at the end of a diving board, with three small swimmers sketched in the water below.

Visual Elements & Composition

The drawing is rendered in graphite on cream paper, with a fine, even outline doing most of the work. The standing figure sits at the left of the sheet, seen from behind and slightly in profile, head bent forward and arms raised before the face. A narrow diving board curves down toward the lower edge, and along that edge three smaller figures break the surface, one mid-stroke with an arm lifted. The right two-thirds of the sheet stay open, framed only by a faint ruled border, so the single figure holds the composition in balance against the empty space.

Meaning & Symbolism

The title The Plunge fixes the moment before entry, when a diver stands at the edge and commits to the leap. A single pose on the board carries that tension, which is why subjects like this were common in the figure work of the period. Solon Hannibal Borglum (1868–1922), born in Ogden, Utah, became known for animal and figurative sculpture, including bronzes of horses and frontier subjects, and was the brother of Gutzon Borglum, later associated with Mount Rushmore. This study shows the same close attention to the human body that shaped his sculptural figures.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A tee carries the drawing across the chest, so the figure stands at the edge of the wearer's own frame, poised above the open space of the shirt. The composition's emptiness on one side reads as clean negative space, and the small swimmers at the hem sit where the eye lands last, as if the wearer is the one about to go in.