Solon H. Borglum, born Ogden, UT - The Plunge #5 - n.d. - T-Shirt

A single nude figure hangs mid-leap across the top of a pale sheet, drawn in quick, light pencil lines that leave most of the page open.

Visual Elements & Composition

The palette is restrained: a warm cream ground that covers nearly the entire sheet, with only faint graphite grey in the strokes. The figure is stretched almost horizontally through the upper third, one arm reaching forward and the other trailing behind, legs bent at the knee. A few sweeping marks above and behind the head suggest hair or drapery caught in motion. Below the body, the open negative space does most of the work, so the figure seems to float rather than stand on any ground.

Meaning & Symbolism

The drawing captures the instant of a plunge, when the body has left its support and is still gathering full extension. Its broken, tentative contours stress the momentary and the airborne over a fixed pose. Solon Borglum (1868–1922), born in Ogden, Utah, studied in Paris and became known for public monuments and animal and equestrian sculpture. Studies like this one were the working practice behind his larger sculptures: the body in action was tested in line before it was modelled in three dimensions. The Plunge #5 is one of a numbered series, and this sheet shares its theme of movement that is just beginning or just ending.

Built Around a Single Moment

Printed on a tee, the figure sits high on the chest, where its horizontal sweep reads across the shoulders as the eye moves down. The open cream field around it gives the shirt the same breathing room the original sheet has. Wear it and the figure seems to launch with every step you take, a quiet reminder of Borglum's line work in a garment you can wear every day.