De Medici,1972 – ChertLüdde

1972

Medium

Colored pencil and graphite on paper

Dimensions

43.1 × 35.5 cm

Status

In Gallery Collection

Collect24 Art ID

C24-153209

This drawing refers to the sculpture De Medici from the same year, 1972. The title references the famous Italian noble family, known in part for its patronage of the arts. During this year Mayer begins to research various royal families. She fills her notebooks with their history and family trees. In a letter to her friend Clara she writes about this fascination, which combines her interest in historic women and art history, “I’ve gotten fascinated with Renaissance Italy and the beginnings of art as something other than craft. Also the women in the Medici family were fascinating. Then there is Cristine de Pisan who lived in France in the 1300s and wrote feminist manifestoes along with history and poetry and lots of other ladies.” In this period Mayer also furthers the development of a coordinated practice of drawing and making sculpture. In 1971 she made drawings of impossible, imaginary fabric works. In 1972 she began to work on drawings of the finished sculptures. Other drawings related to sculpture include diagrams and studies in order to figure out the construction of the sculpture and guides for installing it. The sculpture De Medici has been lost.