Olivia Munnelly, 2020

The drawing by F. Luis Mora provides intriguing insight to his own life and his interactions with his contemporaries. Due to the yellowing of the paper and the damage on the lower right, we can see that it is likely of poor paper quality, possibly taken from a sketchbook or something similar. The work itself is graphite on paper. It is interesting to see them depicted in what appears to be an intimate setting, at a picnic or possibly lounging together elsewhere. It allows us to see figures like Alfred Stieglitz, George Luks, and John Sloane as Mora’s friends, represented in a more casual atmosphere than in a staged photograph, like the portrait of Stieglitz by Imogen Cunningham. In addition, the drawings appear to have a gestural quality to them, which could indicate that they were quick sketches, done in a setting like a café or picnic. However, the portrait drawn on the lower left is speculated to possibly be a self-portrait. For this figure it appears the artist has paid the most attention to the details in the facial figures of his own self-portrait. It seems almost as though he spent more time on this portrait, except for possibly the portrait in the top right with the pipe. Drawings like these seem to provide a more intimate and personal look at an artist and his subjects. It humanizes both the art and the artist in a different way than a completed painting.