In researching the drawings of elephants done by Maureen Love for an upcoming article
'Wild About HRs' by Kristina Lucas Francis for the Hagen-Renaker Collectors Club Newsletter (HRCC), I thought I'd share a few things about Maureen's sketchbooks and drawings with Share The Love fans.
In numbering the sketchbooks,
they were done without any knowledge of their chronological order, and
were given numbers merely in the order they were picked up to be
photographed. The drawings themselves, however, were numbered
sequentially within each book. The inventory numbers began with ML0001
through ML1064, and were written on each drawing with microfine
archival inkpens as unobtrusively as possible before putting them into archival sleeves.
We thought it important to keep them in their original order, and to also
photograph the sketchbook covers that had Maureen's notations of what
was in each book. Those notations were priceless, especially in
identifying the individual real Arabian horses and thus the
Hagen-Renaker Potteries (H-R) sculpts they were used for. The job of trying to identify
each horse and animal has been helped by welcome contributions of
visitors to my room during Breyerfest, and Kristina Lucas Francis' eagle
eyes.
There were also many drawings that
were not bound in the spiral sketchbooks, but loose. The larger ones were given inventory
numbers. There were, however, drawings that were much smaller, some on
pieces of paper about the size of a business card and even smaller.
Those were not given numbers at the time, but I'll continue to work on
doing that to their digital images.
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| ML0903A |
There
are two bound sketchbooks with drawings of the elephant that was
obviously used to sculpt the Hagen-Renaker Potteries (H-R) Desigers Workshop adult Indian elephant they named Rajah, with only one sketch of the
young elephant used for the H-R model of Pasha.
ML0903A is a
three-quarter view from the rear of the Rajah adult. The back side to
that is ML0903B, an incredible drawing of Rajah from the side, facing
right, along with a separate head-on view.
ML0903A (Below) ML0903B (Below)
The next page,
ML0904A, is another wonderful drawing of Rajah from the opposite side,
facing left, along with a hind-end view. These two drawings faced each
other in the sketchbook like bookends.
The back side of that drawing is ML0904B, an adult facing left, perhaps walking. These were done on grey
paper, with black, white, brown and pink colors of pencil, and all appear to have been drawn about the same time.
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| ML0904B |
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| ML0962A |
In a separate sketchbook are two more drawings drawn in just black on
white paper. Drawing ML0962A is an almost exact duplicate of ML0903B,
side view looking to the right. The trunk is in a different position
and the ear hangs lower, isn't as jagged, but very similar otherwise. It also has 2 partial head views. On the upper left edge of the drawing is written Ventura Blvd. We're not sure if that refers to where the elephant was located. If that rings bells with anyone, please let us know!
Drawing ML0962B
is a young elephant used for the H-R Pasha. The body is much more
compact, smoother, with a larger domed shape to the back. The feet are smaller, not as splayed as the adult, with smaller
toenails.
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| ML0962B Pasha |
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| Enlarged Detail from ML1049A below. |
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| ML01049A (Above) ML01049B (Below) |
There
are 22 loose drawings numbered ML01049A through ML01063B (no ML01050 or ML01058). They are drawn in
black on white paper. There appear to be at least two different elephants here, but we would love to hear from you collectors how many different individuals you see ~ have fun comparing ragged ears and butt wrinkles!
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| ML01051A (Above) |
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| ML01051B (Above) |
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| ML01052A (Above) It is subtle, but Maureen has used pink shading on areas of the skin in this one drawing |
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| ML01057A (Above) ML01057B Right) |
There is no ML01058.
You can see areas of glare in some of these photos that are reflections off the graphite pencil.
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| ML01059A (Above) |
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| ML011059B (Above) |
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| ML01060A (Above) |
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| ML01061A (Above) |
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| ML01061B (Above) |
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| ML01062A (Below) and detail from its upper left corner (Above) |
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| ML01063A (Above) |
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| ML01063B (Above) |
The last group of 7 may be the same elephants as above. These drawings were not numbered at the time, and were drawn on tracing paper. The first three are drawn in black.
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| MLOScans118 (Above) |
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| MLOScans119 (Above) |
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| MLOScans120 (Above) |
The last 4 drawings again look to be of the same elephants as the previous group. They are drawn in purple pencil on tracing paper.
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| MLOScans121 (Above) |
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| MLOScans122 (Above) |
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| MLOScans123 (Above) |
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| MLOScans124 (Above) |
That makes 35 drawings of elephants total, however, we may find a few more.
If you look, you may be able to see 'ghost' images from the drawings on adjoining pages.
I love Maureen's tiny sketches tucked into her larger drawings, and being able to enlarge them enough for you to see is exciting ~ we hope you agree. We knew she could sculpt in miniature, but these truly tiny quick sketches of such immense creatures are very impressive!
Share The Love is happy to be able to share some of Maureen's drawings with you.
Let us know if you'd like to see more, and which animals you'd like us to show.
