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David Smith Sketchbook,c. 1944-1954, 9 x 12 in. Left:pencil on paper;right:collage and ink on paper. David Smith Papers,
Archivesof AmericanArt.

"I drawa lot to increasemy mindor my vision,"explainedDavidSmith, "but when I workI try to let the work
makeits own vision-while I keepa historyof knowingbehindit. "'

VISUAL THINKING

LIZA KIRWIN
Thousands of sketchbooks in the Archives of American
Art hold what Smith called "a history of knowing." They
form a vast repository of ideas, perceptions, inspirational
imagery, and graphic experiments. As personal docu-
ments, they afford an intimate view of an artist's visual
thinking and reveal a private world and creative process
that is often more direct and more ardent than in formal
works of art.
LIZA KIRWIN is the collector for the Archives of American Art in
the Southeastern region.
Sketchbooks are as varied as the artists who keep them.
John Graham doodled in a leatherbound diary, David
Smith used sturdy, nine-by-twelve-inch workbooks, and
Reginald Marsh cut and bound scrap paper to fit the size
of his coat pocket.2 Some have flights of the imagination
or visionary schemes. Others may be academic notebooks
containing anatomical studies or journals of visual ex-
perience. Albert Kahn copied architectural details and
patterns for future projects. Oscar Bluemner kept painting
diaries with copious notes on his color theory.
One of the earliest sketchbooks in the Archives of
American Art is by Worthington Whittredge (1820-1910)

21
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WorthingtonWhittredgeSketchbook,1849, 6 x 9 in. "The Seven Mountainsand Drachenfels,"inkon cream paper.Worthington

Whittredge
WorthingtonWhittredgeSketchbook,1849, 6 x 9 in. Ink on creampaper. WorthingtonWhittredgePapers,Archivesof AmericanArt.

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Papers, Archives of American Art. David Park Sketchbook, c. 1955, 83/4 x 12 in. Figure study, ink
wash on paper. David Park Papers, Archives of American Art.
from his trip up the Rhine in 1849. Whittredge,a Cin-
cinnati landscape painter, was travelingby boat to the
DiisseldorfAcademy, where he would begin his formal
art training.Each day he surveyedhis surroundingsfor
potential subjects. Cologne and Bonn did not interest
him, but Drachenfelsappealedto his romanticsensibil-
ities. In his autobiographyhe wrote:
Myfirst landing was Drachenfels.Guide-bookin
hand and constantlywatchingfor the 'castledcrag
of Drachenfels,'.... I got off the boat as soon as
possibleand walked back and ascendedthe peak 4f
where I expectedto meet the 'peasantgirls with
deep blue eyes' which Byron had intimated were
there to befound.'
Althoughthe peasantgirlsleft somethingto be desired,
the landscapeappealedto him: 4ke
.
as the sun was rising over the 'SevenHills' I
..
lookedout of my window with the Rhine at my
back, and saw a picture. It was but a moment, but
I made some memoranda, and in the following i i:;
i:•"::•":.":.7•
winter painted a large picture of this subjectfor my V4 -lp
1

Cincinnatifriend, Mr. William Groesbeck.4

•. i, :.•,? ?-14
Whittredge'ssketchbook includes his "memoranda" .-
'.•.•.
. -3
-

of the Seven Hills and Drachenfels,as well as views of

 St. Goar, Rheinfels, Nonnenwerth, and other points of
interest along the river. They are quick, lively sketches
that outline the features of the landscapeswith pano-
ramas that span two pages. Whittredge'ssketchbookis
typical for a nineteenth-century American artist who
studied or traveled abroad. It served as a repositoryof
ideas, a place to develop his powers of observation,and
a graphicmemento of his grandtour.
AlbertKahn (1869-1942), who was America'sleading
industrialarchitectin the firsthalf of the twentieth cen-
tury,also made a Europeantour. In 1890, at age twenty-
one, he won a scholarshipfrom the AmericanArchitect
...........
....
and BuildingNews to study architectural monuments
abroad.His sketchbookfrom Genoa, Rome, and Viterbo
'jg-..n.............,
includes sensitive drawings of decorative brickwork,
.....
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.... . . . ... . doorways to courtyards,and campanile that rise dra-
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maticallyabove terracottaroofs.Kahnwas eagerto leamrn
, .. . ..
-

and apply the vocabularyof Italianvemrnacular architec-

..............
ture. ".. . the one potent lesson to be deduced from the
Renaissance," wrote Kahn, "... is that of adaption and
appropriation."5In his sketchbook, Kahn, who made
revolutionaryadvancesin factorydesignby applyingold
formsto new problems,extractedfromthe past the prin-
.............. ciples for the future.
Thesketchbookof John WhiteAlexander(1856-1915)
shows the concemrns of a figure painter near the end of
the nineteenth century.His undated book is devoted to
..........
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light and shadow in shallow space. His subjectsare en-

WS.-MR.A. ..... gagedin quiet, composed,interioractivities,much in the
way that Alexanderwithdrew into the privateworld of
his sketchbook to meditate on the formal elements of
light and composition.
...........?
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While Alexander rarely worked from preliminary
:
. . .
. .
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sketches, OscarBluemner's(1867-1938) art evolved di-
rectlyfromhis paintingdiaries,which he kept from 1911
......
. -6•
i :! :•i• to 1936. Bluemner,who was trainedin Germanyas an
. . .. .. ...•
......? ,? • architect,had an architect'spenchant for planning. On
.... . his walking tours of New Jerseyand Pennsylvania,with
his painting diary in hand, he made rough outlines of
landscapesand plottedcomplexcolorarrangements. Each
... ..
sketch from nature was Bluemner'sblueprint of light,
line, mass, shadow, and color. Laterhe embellishedhis
books with additional studies and made extensive notes
on his theories and observations. His diaries are evidence
of his all-consuming commitment to aesthetic explora-
tion. "One rule," wrote Bluemner, "draw and paint,
equally, constantly, separately, thinking, feeling."'6
The sketchbooks of George Tooker (b. 1920) represent
his student work in a class taught by Reginald Marsh at
the Art Students League of New York in 1943 and 1944.
The book includes a table of anatomical proportions and
Tooker's figure studies in watercolor, charcoal, and pen
and ink. While his sketch of a solitary drinker suggests
the socially alienated figures of his later paintings, the
AlbertKahnSketchbook, December25, 1890-February6,
1891,5 x 7 in. "Toweron Lateran
Museum/Rome fluid lines and thin color washes show the early influence
18.1.91,"
pencilon creampaper.AlbertKahnPapers,Archivesof of Reginald Marsh.
AmericanArt. Marsh (1898-1954) was rarely without a sketchbook.7

24
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Oscar Bluemner Painting Diary, 1916-1918, 8 x 12 in. Left: "restudy Blackwells Mills," August 22, 1916, wax crayon on paper;
right: "July 18-16 near Bloomfield, NJ," ink on paper. Oscar Bluemner Papers, Archives of American Art.

Oscar Bluemner Painting Diary, 1911, 6 x 8 in. "Bronx River Mt Vernon/Oct 7-111" ink on paper. Oscar
Archives of American Art. Bluemner Papers,

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George Tooker Sketchbook, 1943-1944, 8 x 10 in. Figure study, watercolor on paper. George Tooker Papers, Archives of American Art.
Reginald Marsh Sketchbook, c. 1950, 63/4 x 10V2 in. Left: "Sun bather/Union Sq Hotel-July 18, 1950," ink wash on cream paper;
right: "Casien [sic]-Umber." Reginald Marsh Papers, Archives of American Art.

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John WhiteAlexanderSketchbook,undated, 51Vx 81V2in. Youngman reading,ink wash and Chinesewhite over pencil on blue-
graypaper.John White AlexanderPapers,Archivesof AmericanArt.
He left hundreds in his estate. Most contain variations color. His sketchbook of New York City from the mid-
on his favorite themes-street scenes in New York City, 1940s includes comprehensive pencil studies with color
bathers at Coney Island, and burlesque houses-but one notations. "That's what I want to know when I look at
from 1950 documents his experiments with various me- a drawing," explained Porter, "I want to use it for some-
dia. In it Marsh made thirteen racy sketches of women thing that's going to be colored. So I give myself that
raising their skirts. Each tests the effects of different ma- information."8 In his sketch of Center Street looking to-
terials including powder casein, colored ink and water, ward Park Row and Printing House Square, Porter re-
damar varnish, egg, chinese ink, pencil, and watercolor. corded the architectural details of the Hall of Records on
These provocative sketches are evidence of his search for the right, the Municipal building on the left, the dome
the perfect medium, long after he established himself as of the Pulitzer building, and the clock tower of the Trib-
a master of tempera. une, but he also noted the subtle colors of the city by
Fairfield Porter (1907-1975) was most concerned with distinguishing five separate shades of grey.

John GrahamDiary,
1937, 3 x 5 in.
June 28-July 1, 1937,
ink, pencil, colored pencil,
and Chinese white ink
IN
on paper. John Graham
Papers,Archivesof
I.
AmericanArt.
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John GrahamDiary, 1937, 3x5 in. July 14-July 17, 1937, ink, pencil, and colored pencil on paper.
John GrahamPapers,Archivesof AmericanArt.
David Smith Sketchbook,c. 1944-1954, 9 x 12 in. Left:pencil, colored pencil and wax crayon on paper; right:pencil,
coloredpencil, wax crayon,ink wash, pastel, and felt-tippen on paper.David Smith Papers,Archivesof AmericanArt.
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FairfieldPorterSketchbook,c. 1945, 8 x 10 in. CenterStreet
looking towardParkRow in New York,pencil on paper.Fair-
field PorterPapers,Archivesof AmericanArt.
The sketchbooks of David Park (1911-1960) show the
liberating influence of Abstract Expressionism on figur-
ative painting. In his undated spiral-bound books, Park
restored the physical vigor of the studio nude. His bold,
fluid brush strokes block out shapes in bright light and
deep shadow. Park taught life drawing classes at the Cal-
ifornia School of Fine Arts and later at the University of
California at Berkeley. He also organized life drawing
sessions in the 1950s with Elmer Bischoff, William Brown,
Paul Wonner, Richard Diebenkorn, and other Bay Area
artists.9 Presumably Park's sketchbooks are a record of
these group sessions and his personal explorations to-
ward a new figurative style.
John Graham (1881-1961), a Russian immigrant, writer,
painter, collector, connoisseur, and charismatic spokes-
man for the avant-garde, was also an incessant doodler.
His 1937 pocket diary reveals the force of his imagination
and his enthusiasm for Picasso. That year Graham pub-
lished his treatise, Systemand Dialecticsof Art, and was in
the process of expanding and finishing several other writ-
ing projects. He was also acting as a private agent for
collector Frank Crowninshield and others and made at
least one extended trip to Mexico. With most of his energy
consumed by these activities, he had little time to paint.
His diary was one place where he indulged in graphic
expression. He covered his lists of objects to buy and sell,
letters to write, and people to meet, with multi-colored
pencil drawings and Picassoesque doodles. His small
sketches have the same whimsical vulgarity that gave his
later paintings their unsettling edge.
One of Graham's early associates was sculptor David
Smith (1906-1965). Smith's papers include forty-eight
note and sketchbooks from the early 1930s to the mid-
1950s. They contain sketches of completed sculpture,
works in progress, and future projects. Smith also made
notes and pasted in letters, postcards, and pictures from
magazines and newspapers for future reference and de-
velopment. Smith described his drawings as "statements
of my identity."'0 For a lecture on drawing he wrote:
Drawing is the most direct, closestto the true self,
the most natural liberationof man-and if I may
guess back to the action of the very early man, it
may have been the first celebrationof man with his
secret self-even before song . . . drawings remain
the lifeforce of the artist.
Especiallyis this truefor the sculptor, who, of
necessity,works in media slow to take realization.
And where the orginal creativeimpetus must be
maintained during labor, drawing is the fast-moving
search which keepsphysical labor in balance."
As a source of inspirational imagery and a personal
record of his activities, Smith's sketchbooks reflect his
visual interests, but they also reveal the vitality of his
ideas and the energy of his creative process.
Sketchbooks are the traditional testing ground for color
theories and compositions and the time-honored means
of collecting ideas. As a standard artist's tool, they reflect
developments in American Art and patterns of art train-
ing. As personal documents they provide an intimate
f
view an artist's "secret self."
NOTES
1. David Smith interviewed by Thomas Hess, June 1964. David Smith
Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, microfilm
roll NDSmith: 294. This interview also appears in Garnett McCoy, ed.,
David Smith (New York: Praeger Publishers, Inc., 1973), pp. 175-186.
2. Edward Laning made a similar point about Marsh's handmade
sketchbooks in The Sketchbooksof Reginald Marsh (Greenwich, Con-
necticut: New York Graphic Society, Ltd., 1973), p. 16.
3. John I. H. Baur, ed., The Autobiographyof WorthingtonWhittredge
1820-1910 (New York: Arno Press, 1969), p. 20. The original manuscript
of the autobiography is in the Worthington Whittredge Papers, Archives
of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, microfilm roll D28: 1-202.
4. ibid.
5. Albert Kahn lecture notes, ca. 1900. Albert Kahn Papers, Archives
of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, microfilm roll 1112: 537.
6. Painting Diary, 1911. Oscar Bluemner Papers, Archives of American
Art, Smithsonian Institution, microfilm roll 339: 160.
7. Laning, p. 16.
8. Fairfield Porter interviewed by Paul Cummings, June 6, 1968, p. 75.
Oral History Collection, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Insti-
tution.
9. Paul Mills, "David Park and the New Figurative Painting" (Masters
Thesis, University of California at Berkeley, June 1962 version, pp. 76-
77). David Park Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Insti-
tution, microfilm roll 849: 838-839.
10. Lecture by David Smith, Portland, Oregon, March 23, 1953. David
Smith Papers, microfilm roll NDSmith 4: 1089.
11. Lecture by David Smith, Sophie Newcomb College, Tulane Uni-
versity, March 21, 1955. David Smith Papers, microfilm roll NDSmith
4: 452-453. This lecture also appears in Garnett McCoy, ed., David
Smith, pp. 119-137.
29