Bound Angel
Elihu Vedder
American Art
This highly finished preparatory study for a painting depicts a personification of the human soul in conflict as a female angel with bound hands and feet. Although Elihu Vedder rendered the figure’s idealized body as fettered and immobile, he suggested an active spiritual life through her attitude of contemplation, with head tilted back, eyes closed, and brow slightly furrowed.
Bound Angel exemplifies Vedder’s technical prowess as a draftsman, as well as his esoteric Symbolist subject matter. Symbolism emerged in turn-of-the-century literary and artistic circles as a movement that favored the exploration of emotional, spiritual, and imaginative themes over the representation of the real world (see also Kahlil Gibran’s drawing displayed nearby).
Bound Angel exemplifies Vedder’s technical prowess as a draftsman, as well as his esoteric Symbolist subject matter. Symbolism emerged in turn-of-the-century literary and artistic circles as a movement that favored the exploration of emotional, spiritual, and imaginative themes over the representation of the real world (see also Kahlil Gibran’s drawing displayed nearby).
MEDIUM
White chalk and black Conté crayon on bluish-green, moderately thick, slightly textured wove paper
DATES
1891
DIMENSIONS
sheet: 11 1/2 × 8 7/8 in. (29.2 × 22.5 cm)
frame: 20 3/8 × 15 3/8 × 1 3/4 in. (51.8 × 39.1 × 4.4 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Conjoined monogram and date lower right: "18 V 91"
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
21.482
CREDIT LINE
Bequest of William H. Herriman
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Elihu Vedder (American, 1836–1923). Bound Angel, 1891. White chalk and black Conté crayon on bluish-green, moderately thick, slightly textured wove paper, sheet: 11 1/2 × 8 7/8 in. (29.2 × 22.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of William H. Herriman, 21.482 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 21.482_PS4.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 21.482_PS4.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2011
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
No known copyright restrictions
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