SPRUANCE, Benton

American (1904 – 1967)

Arrangement for Drums, 1941

Fine & Looney 191. Lithograph in two colors, pale green and black, on wove paper with full margins and deckled edges. Printed by Theo Cuno. Edition of 35. Signed, titled, dated, and inscribed “Ed 35 for Marcia Friget(?)” in pencil.

9 ⅜ x 14 ⅝ inches | 23.8 x 37.1 cm

Museum Collections:
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Free Library of Philadelphia

In the early 1940s, Spruance was fascinated with musicians on stage, and the percussion section of the Philadelphia Orchestra inspired Arrangement for Drums. It is an image of three black-suited jazz percussionists playing their instruments: one drummer is about to clap the cymbals, another holds a drumstick above the bass drum, and another strikes the timpani. A series of eight preparatory drawings for the print illustrates how the artist simplified and flattened the forms, which are aligned on the frontal plane like a bas-relief (see Fine & Looney p. 11-13). The repetitive, interlocking shapes create a staccato rhythm befitting the musical subject. One of Spruance’s earliest attempts at color lithography, Arrangement for Drums was printed in black and pale green, the so-called tint stone, which creates a third white color. The tones and varying textures created with the lithographic crayon further enliven the surface.

When Spruance created this print, he was already noted as an adept and prolific black-and-white lithographer. This image was one of his earliest attempts in color lithography. It was made in two steps, printing first in black ink for the main design, followed by use of a second, so-called tint stone in tan; thus the two superimposed colors created a third on the white paper. Arrangement for Drums is also a rare instance of Spruance working in geometric abstraction, a mode appropriate to his jazz subject but in contrast to his customary representational or social realist style amply demonstrated in his better-known print series “The People Work” (TF 1995.47.a, TF 1995.47.b, TF 1995.47.c, TF 1995.47.d).

ᐧ

SOLD