Artwork
Play with Heads
Play with Heads is a work on paper by Oskar Schlemmer. It dates from 1923 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
- Accession no.
- 2000.120
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
About this work
Overview
The portfolio titled Play with Heads consists of a limited series of prints that examine the arrangement of three stylised heads. Each print is rendered in a single hue, employing a spatter method that creates a field of varied dots, giving the figures a translucent, almost ethereal quality.
Subject & Meaning
The heads are reduced to basic geometric planes, circles, squares, triangles, evoking masks or mannequins rather than individual likenesses. The artist emphasized the creation of archetypal human types, seeking a timeless, purified representation of humanity rather than portraiture.
Technique & Style
Ink was applied to a toothbrush and flicked across a lithographic stone, scattering droplets that form a random dot pattern. By modulating the spray, the artist achieved a broad tonal range and semi‑transparent surfaces, a practice reminiscent of 19th‑century French lithographers such as Henri Toulouse‑Lautrec.
Context
While contemporaries like El Lissitzky, László Moholy‑Nagy, and Kurt Schwitters pursued pure abstraction, this work maintains a focus on the human figure. The spatter technique links back to earlier lithographic experiments, yet the artist’s interest in typified bodies sets the series apart within the early‑20th‑century avant‑garde.
Legacy
The prints illustrate an exploration of minimal line work and the capacity of dot‑based shading to suggest form, anticipating later investigations into pointillist and sfumato effects. They remain a concise study of how limited means can convey complex ideas about identity and representation.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Oskar Schlemmer (German pronunciation:; 4 September 1888 – 13 April 1943) was a German painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer associated with the Bauhaus school.
