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Label Text Hedda Sterne began producing a series of works called "Anthropographs" in 1947. Construction equipment, stoves, boilers, scientific instruments, and other industrial contraptions were depicted by her as strange, human-like apparatuses. Anthropograph #19 is a prime example from this series, showcasing Sterne's curiosity for American inventions but also her interest in the otherworldly. In 2006, Sterne expressed that she "had a feeling that machines were unconcious self-portraits of people's psyches: the grasping, the wanting, the agression that's in a machine." Untitled is a monotype produced by Sterne after completing Anthrograph #19. This work is unique in that Sterne did nor produce monotypes after many of her painitngs. To create the work, Sterne employed "transfer drawing" - a printmaking technique that involved drawing with pencil onto the backside of the sheet, while the paper sat on top of a painted surface or matrix so the image was pressed onto the front. The monotype is encased in a special frame that allows viewers to see both the front and backsides. DMAC News, Apr May Jun 2020
Exhibition HistoryNewYork, NY, Hedda Sterne: Machines, 1947-1951, Van Doren Waxter, March 1O-April 29, 2016, cal. ill. p. 19.
DimensionsFrame: 41 1/4 × 31 1/4 × 2 in. (104.8 × 79.4 × 5.1 cm)
Canvas: 40 × 30 in. (101.6 × 76.2 cm)
Accession Number 2020.2
Classificationspainting
SignedHedda Sterne 1949 (l,r paint) Hedda Sterne (verso l,l graphite)
ProvenanceArtist; The Hedda Sterne Foundation; (Van Doren Waxter, New York); Des Moines Art Center [purchased from the previous, 2020]
Anthropograph #19
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Hedda Sterne
1950
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Robert Jessup
1986
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Stanley Robert Boxer
1973
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Sean Scully
2003-2004
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Cecily Brown
2005
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Marsden Hartley
1927
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Judy Rifka
1984
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Anonymous
ca. 1830-1835
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
John Currin
1998
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Ellen Gallagher
2000