In the Book She Reads

Work on Paper

-

DePaul Art Museum

Name/Title

In the Book She Reads

Entry/Object ID

5091

Description

Human and animal figures drawn in smoke and melding together across the paper. A wood log fence lines the bottom of the image horizontally.

Artwork Details

Medium

Charcoal Graphite on paper mounted onto board

Context

In the Book She Reads, uses the “fumage” technique of catching smoke on paper and adding on to it later. This work is one of a selection of Thecla's works that display this technique. Human and animal faces can be seen woven together in the smoke, characters typical of Thecla’s imagery. In the Book She Reads was created during a time when Thecla’s career was somewhat stagnant. It shows clear elements of surrealism, the genre she is often associated with.

Acquisition

Notes

Collection of DePaul University, gift of Helen T. Findlay

Made/Created

Artist

Thecla, Julia

Date made

1961

Ethnography

Notes

United States North America, United States

Lexicon

LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials

Charcoal

Legacy Lexicon

Object Name

Drawing

Class

WORKS ON PAPER

Dimensions

Dimension Description

SHEET

Width

27.94 cm

Depth

2.223 cm

Length

44.291 cm

Exhibition

Julia Thecla: Undiscovered Worlds

Interpretative Labels

Label

In the Book She Reads Thecla, Julia 1961 Smoke drawing techinque