Print, The Old Man of the Mountain, from The Travels of Marco Polo

Object Timeline

1930	Work on this object began.
1992	We acquired this object.
2015	We photographed this object.
2024	You found it!

Print, The Old Man of the Mountain, from The Travels of Marco Polo

This is a Print. It was designed by Witold Gordon. It is dated 1930 and we acquired it in 1992. Its medium is lithograph on paper. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

It is credited Gift of Allen P. Golden.

One of a pair of vertical drawings designed to be printed as a 2-panel mural wall covering. Although each panel can be appreciated individually, it should be noted that elements introduced on the left panel are completed on the right and vice versa. The entire mural depicts musicians playing instruments on one panel and children playing with kites on the other, set against exotic architecture. The types of instruments, and the style of the clothing, kites and architecture suggest the scene takes place in the East (and is reminiscent of miniature paintings and prints from that part of the world.) The elements are drawn in a playful, somewhat flat manner. The view is from an elevated perspective. The vanishing point is below the bottom page equidistant from the outer edge of each panel. The front plane of the building faces the viewer while both sides of the building are also visible (as diagonal planes heading backwards.) There are three areas of action: at street level, on a roof terrace/garden, and in the middle within and outside the building. In this panel, on the street level, the “serenade” is performed by five musicians sitting under a tall, open, canopy structure, in what appears to be an entryway to an outer yard bordered by a veranda like railing. The street has diamond-shaped tiles. The musicians are arranged like the 5 points of a W. Musician #1 sits on the railing, plays an instrument like a wooden flute (a ney?); #2 sits on the ground against the railing, plays an instrument like a broken-necked lute (an oud?) #3 sits on ground further back, plays an odd-shaped lap-held instrument (a zither?); #4 sits on the ground, against the railing (opposite #2) plays an instrument like a lute; #5 sits on ground furthest back, plays an instrument like an elongated acoustic guitar (dulcimer?) #3 and 4 wear turban-like headgear and all wear longish form-fitted jackets and are either barefoot or in sandals. The figures are vey small relative to the entire panel, taking up only the bottom 1/5. The canopy towers over the figures. Its sides have a decorative, loop-and-triangle pattern, and its roof has a pattern like wicker caning. Above the canopy, is a what appears to be a two-sided garden wall with an opening through which tree branches are partially visible. Branches are also visible at the sides and top edges of the wall. Above the opening is a large, cartoon-like, very white butterfly, starkly contrasted against the grey brick wall. (It is a kite whose string is held by children in the adjacent panel.) The side of the wall has a small grid pattern. Towards the left edge of the panel, roughly centered between the branches poking out from behind the wall, is a large 6-pointed star with spokes, drawn with shading as if to convey a source of light creating shadows. It’s another kite (manipulated by a child on the other panel.) Slightly below the star is a fragment of a balcony (completed on the other panel.) An empty sky creates a visual, restful exit from all the patterns in the scene below. The top of the paper appears discolored. The artist makes wonderful use of diagonals, light and dark, multiple patterns and geometric shapes, to create fantasy spaces on different planes, not always decipherable, with a few mysterious half-hidden figures for good measure, all of which keeps the viewer engaged. As this is a 2-dimensional, monochrome drawing (shades of gray on a light background) one of the exciting aspects of the artist’s skill is how she juxtaposes a variety of lines and patterns against each other, some dark and dense, some light and sparse, to distinguish areas and elements from one another, giving each its own voice in the artwork.

Drawing, Serenade, 1948
graphite, pen and ink on linen.
Gift of Matthew L. Edelman.
2016-37-1

Its dimensions are

24.1 × 12.3 cm (9 1/2 × 4 13/16 in.)

It is inscribed

Printed in plate, lower margin: THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN

Cite this object as

Print, The Old Man of the Mountain, from The Travels of Marco Polo; Designed by Witold Gordon (American, b. Poland, 1885–1968); USA; lithograph on paper; 24.1 × 12.3 cm (9 1/2 × 4 13/16 in.); Gift of Allen P. Golden; 1992-174-1-6

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2DwV6/
Accession Number 1992-174-1-6
Object ID 18639639