DepartmentUnited States & Canada

Untitled (“For four generations…”)

NameDrawing

Artist Eddie Arning (American, 1898 - 1993)

CultureGerman-American

Dateca. 1970-1972

Place madeAustin, TEXAS, United States, North America

Mediumoil pastel on paper

Dimensions32 × 21 7/8 in. (81.2802 × 55.5626 cm)

Credit LineGift of Will and Angelita Channing

Object numberA.2023.2.4

Collections

New Acquisitions: The Gift of Folk Art

ProvenancePurchased from a dealer in 1990s (dba Channing Dale Throckmorton Gallery, Santa Fe)

DescriptionOil on pastel drawing of a person, dressed in black pants and a blue top. Ground is a red-orange color with two rows of trees and at the bottom right in cursive, "For four generations we’ve been making medicines as if people’s lives depended on them."

This particular drawing is based on a ca. 1970-72 print ad by Eli Lilly drug company (shown here). This ad campaign focused mostly on photographic images of children, pictured alone. Arning took certain liberties with the source materials he used, and articulated the figures in particular in a very stylized way, with the body and head in profile, circular eye looking toward the viewer, and a squiggle to represent the ear. He also typically created a drawn frame around the image, as seen in this drawing. Arning also centered the child and trees, rather than keeping the scene at the top of the frame as the original photo does. Lastly, he exaggerated the geometry of the trees, providing two orderly rows of angular-top trees as a path for the figure.