Drawing, Design for Railings, Hounds

This group of 39 drawings by the artist and designer William Hunt Diederich showcases Hunt Diederich’s prodigious skill as a draftsman and the varied ways in which drawing factored into Hunt Diederich’s design process for metalwork and ceramics. Hunt Diederich developed a love of animal forms at an early age and remained his primary subject matter for his entire career. These sketches range from early experiments with forms to cartoons used in the final transfer process from paper design to wrought iron. They encapsulate Hunt Diederich’s spirit for invention—he found opportunities for the application of dynamic patterns and stylized figures and forms in everything from furniture to fixtures. Hunters, dancers, ibex, hounds, eagles, horses, peacocks and more appear throughout the drawings, ingeniously incorporated into geometric forms or functional designs. In one, the form of a bird becomes a vehicle for a cleverly designed pair of scissors. In another, a hound rears up on his hind legs to hold up a sconce. As a whole, the group of drawings tells the story of a designer with the unique ability to translate sinuous creatures from nature into striking, static images.

Drawing, Design for Railings, Hounds; Designed by William Hunt Diederich (American, b. Hungary, 1884–1953); graphite on paper; verso: graphite; 20.3 × 25.4 cm (8 × 10 in.); Gift of D. Wigmore Fine Art; 2018-16-1