(Untitled)

Robert Klippel's extraordinary oeuvre of sculptures was matched by an equally remarkable body of drawings, watercolours and collages. Notable for their inventiveness and diversity, Klippel's drawings were an essential accompaniment to his practice as a sculptor. The drawings were the synthesis of abstract forms on paper while similarly, his sculptures were the resolution of disparate objects in a cumulative assemblage.

This drawing was made while Klippel was living in Paris between 1949-50, a time when he consciously strove to develop his drawing practice beyond the mere notation of sculptural ideas. He made hundreds of drawings and watercolours during this period, firstly in a Surrealist vein that developed, over April and May 1950, into a new group of works that incorporated additional influences including Tachism and Abstract Expressionism.

© Australian Art Department, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2004