Sketchbook for 'Division Street'

Artist Jerome Witkin (American, born 1939)

Date1984-1985

MediumBlue and black ink and graphite on paper

DimensionsOverall: 9 3/4 x 7 1/2in. (24.8 x 19.1cm)

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Credit LineGift of Jerome Witkin

Terms

Object number96.15

Description53 page marble-covered notebook depicting the progress of 'What a Boy Saw,' (a panel from 'Division Street'); some pages have been removed.

On View

Not on view

Collections

Drawings

Label TextThe museum recently purchased a three-part painting entitled Division Street by Jerome Witkin; the artist subsequently donated this small composition book that is filled with studies for the work. Division Street is based on an early memory the artist had of his father moving out in the midst of a violent argument with Witkin's mother. He originally planned to call the painting What a Boy Saw, 1943. In these rough ball-point pen sketches, Witkin works out compositional questions, facial expressions, and gestures. Museums collect sketchbooks because they provide insight into an artist's decision-making processes, as well as document the many stages of a painting's development. MEM