Twenty Drawings of a Roman Boy (after Toledo Museum of Art’s Roman bronze)

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Twenty Drawings of a Roman Boy (after Toledo Museum of Art’s Roman bronze)

Artist Jim Dine (American, born 1935)

Date1995

Medium20 Drawings: Charcoal, pastel, watercolor, shellac, and collage

ClassificationDrawings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1996.12A-T

Not on View

Label TextIn 1995 Jim Dine was invited to the Museum as part of a special residency to create a body of work inspired by TMA’s collection. Dine had been studying ancient Greek and Roman art in museums throughout Europe and was naturally drawn to the Roman bronze Statue of a Youth from 140 CE. Using a variety of techniques, he created a collection of 20 expressive drawings of the sculpture, some of which are displayed here. Dine wrote, “The bronze boy, idealized by the Roman sculptor, stood out and grabbed me by the back of my neck so I was compelled to sit here and meditate and try to get some marks on paper that would eventually, I hoped, come alive…. If I have achieved any poetry in the depiction of this lovely work, it seems to me that I owe a lot of thanks, not just to the old familiar muse who has sat with me all these years, but also to the Museum where I was allowed to hover in the air above this bronze boy in complete privacy and safety.”