Bowdoin College Museum of Art | - LH [396], 1/29/1969

Preview image of work. pencil, LH [396], 1/29/1969 26029

2013.21.1

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LH [396], 1/29/1969

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Artist

William Anastasi (Philadelphia, PA, b. 1933 - )

Title

LH [396], 1/29/1969

Creation Date

1/29/1969

Century

mid-20th century

Dimensions

11 x 14 in. (27.94 x 35.56 cm)

Object Type

drawing

Creation Place

North America, United States

Medium and Support

pencil

Credit Line

Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection

Copyright

This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s Copyright Terms and Conditions.

Accession Number

2013.21.1

William Anastasi began his “unsighted drawings” in 1964, drawing with his eyes closed for a discrete amount of time and leaving the drawing’s form largely to chance. Inspired by his friend, avant-garde composer John Cage, Anastasi’s method prefigured that of other Conceptual and Process artists like Robert Morris (born 1931) and Sol LeWitt (1928--2007). “LH”--corresponding to the artist’s left hand--is from a series of “pocket drawings” in which Anastasi puts a piece of folded paper and pencil in his pocket, allowing the processes of his daily movements to generate drawings without his conscious intervention. He repeats the exercise until the grid of folded paper is full, each individual drawing scumbled by the additional friction of paper being unfolded and refolded. Each remains a document of the artist’s life.

Keywords: abstract chance gestural movement process art scribble