Essay by Jennifer Jaskowiak, Class of 1987

Many masterworks are continually investigated because we are intrigued by what we don't know, more than by what we do know.

So what do we know about this piece? We know the work was executed on paper, an affordable and versatile support. We know the subject-a man wearing a bowler hat. Based on formal qualities, we know that this work is Cubist, most likely Russian. We do not, though, know the maker, only the initial "B," though we can presume the date of 1922 is the year of signature and, perhaps, production. While knowing the maker resolves some questions, much can be gleaned from a work by "anonymous."

Cubism developed in France and spread its influence across Europe and into Russia. "B" must have seen Cubist or Russian avant-garde works in order to replicate the style. Cubists focused on the reconstruction of the human figure and objects, employed a muted palette, and typically centered their compositions. The subject is broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled into an abstracted form. This overlapping of parts results in multiple viewpoints and the intersection of surfaces. Here, the man's face is depicted from two points of view. Also, the left side is animated, younger. The right side is shadowed-older-and he appears to be asleep, an intersection of ages and attitudes. The block of orange-red color defines his left shoulder and the three black vertical dots are buttons on his shirt. The rest of the body is subject to interpretation. His right arm is bent, composed of quadrangles and triangles, but we can only assume the presence of hands. As with later Cubist work (web gallery 158), the background is flat and ambiguous, and the random "B" and "5" mimic collage, though, potential meanings are unknown, just like the name of the maker.

For Cubists, particularly Russian avant-garde artists working in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the stuff of the everyday, like common man-rather than royalty-reigned supreme. Prominently featured in this work is the bowler hat (Robinson), worn by both men and women from all walks of life, including the working class.