Ask the Scholar

Document scope · 1 page
obj
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory. For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.

Source Description

Variations on a theme, this rare set of prints explores diverse arrangements of three heads. Each image uses a single color and was printed in a spatter technique first used in the 19th century by French lithographers like Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. By drawing a blade across a toothbrush saturated with lithographic ink, the ink is spattered onto the lithographic stone in a random pattern of variously sized dots. By controlling the fine spray of droplets, transparent forms and a wide tonal range can be obtained. Unlike his contemporaries, El Lissitzky, Lázló Moholy-Nagy, and Kurt Schwitters, whose work focused only on abstraction, Schlemmer was intensely interested in the human form. He once said, however, that he was "interested in creating human types, not portraits." Thus he did not portray specific individuals, but prototypes for a purified, timeless image of humanity.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
161433
label
Play with Heads
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
161433
contentType
object
title
Play with Heads
description
Variations on a theme, this rare set of prints explores diverse arrangements of three heads. Each image uses a single color and was printed in a spatter technique first used in the 19th century by French lithographers like Henri Toulouse-Lautrec. By drawing a blade across a toothbrush saturated with lithographic ink, the ink is spattered onto the lithographic stone in a random pattern of variously sized dots. By controlling the fine spray of droplets, transparent forms and a wide tonal range can be obtained. Unlike his contemporaries, El Lissitzky, Lázló Moholy-Nagy, and Kurt Schwitters, whose work focused only on abstraction, Schlemmer was intensely interested in the human form. He once said, however, that he was "interested in creating human types, not portraits." Thus he did not portray specific individuals, but prototypes for a purified, timeless image of humanity.
date
1923
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79984129
creators
38521
genreSpecific
Portfolio
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 49 x 33.6 x 7 cm (19 5/16 x 13 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.)
cul
Germany, 20th century
accession
2000.12
Source extras
tec
lithograph
tombstone
Play with Heads, 1923. Oskar Schlemmer (German, 1888–1943). Lithograph; overall: 49 x 33.6 x 7 cm (19 5/16 x 13 1/4 x 2 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2000.120
collection
PR - Lithograph
citations
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisitions Press Release,” December 12, 2000, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 2
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:23:40.487000
sourceId
161433
dept
Prints
coll
PR - Lithograph
med
lithograph
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
28c6383cf2be1aec