Artist

Lorna Blaine Halper (Primary)

Title

Variations

Date

circa 1945

Century

20th century

Medium & Support

Ink on paper

Dimensions

Sheet: 11 x 8 1/2 in.

Style

Abstraction

Object Type

Drawings

Credit Line

Black Mountain College Collection, gift of the Artist

Accession Number

2008.19.01.41

Copyright

In Copyright
© Estate of Lorna Blaine Halper / Asheville Art Museum

Halper was enrolled at Black Mountain College in summer 1945 through the 1948 spring term except for brief absences. She studied with both Josef Albers and Ilya Bolotowsky, and the influence of Albers’s teachings in form and color can be seen in her painting The Golden Section. As early as 1945 Halper began exploring the motif of a spiral-headed character, “Spiro,” who assumed a multifaceted life of its own in her work. The drawings in Variations are among the earliest representations of the figure. Here, she explores various postures, gestures, and expressions. Spiro, as masculine, feminine, and non-gendered entities, was depicted over time playing golf, performing, raising a family, visiting the beach, and appearing in many other guises. Halper also rendered the figure in sculpture, as seen in the work on the opposite page

Exhibition Title: Asheville Art Museum: An Introduction to the Collection
Label Date: 2021
Type: Catalogue entry
Written by: Mary Emma Harris

• spirals