Head study

Although there are no clues to a literary inspiration for this image it can be seen to belong to a group of drawings on related themes, such as the several versions of Saint Peter, in profile, engulphed by waves and calling for help, or of Ophelia in her final moments, eyes closed, drowning in a brook. Solomon returned to these themes throughout the later years of his career, sometimes – as here – without a specific subject, representing only the drowned or drowning head in isolation. In the present drawing the figure is of ambiguous sex, suggesting neither a female nor male subject but one of an uncertain gender, a characteristic of the artist’s work. The poet and critic Arthur Symons observed in 1906 that 'these faces are without sex'.

We are grateful to Colin Cruise for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.