Joe Brainard: On Art and the Drawings of Holbein

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Portrait of Sir Richard Southwell: Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1537; black and coloured chalks, brush in black and metal pen, 36.6 x 27.7 cm (Royal Collection, Windsor)

Looking through a book of drawings by Holbein I realize several moments of truth. A nose (a line) so nose-like. So line-like. And then I think to myself "so what?" It's not going to solve any of my problems. And then I realize that at the very moment of appreciation I have no problems. Then I decide that this is a pretty profound thought. And that I ought to write it down. This is what I have just done. But it doesn't sound so profound any more. That's art for you.

Sir Thomas Elyot: Hans Holbein the Younger, 1532-33; chalk, pen and brush on paper, 28.6 x 20.6 cm (Royal Collection, Windsor)

Lady Elyot: Hans Holbein the Younger, 1532-33; chalk, pen and brush on paper, 28 x 20.9 cm (Royal Collection, Windsor)




Portrait of Anna Meyer: Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1526; black and coloured chalks, 39.1 x 27.5 cm (Kupferstichkabinett, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel)




Jeanne de Boulogne, Duchess of Berry: Hans Holbein the Younger, 1524; black and coloured chalks, 39.6 x 27.5 cm (Kupferstichkabinett, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel)
 


Jane Seymour: Hans Holbein the Younger, 1536-37; black and coloured chalks on paper, 50 x 28.5 cm (Royal Collection, London)

 
Sir Thomas More: Hans Holbein the Younger, 1527-28; black and coloured chalks on paper, 397 x 299 mm (Royal Collection, London)




 
Simon George of Quocote: Hans Holbein the Younger, 1536; pale pink priming, chalk with indian ink, 28,1 x 19,3 cm (Royal Collection, Windsor)




 
Portrait of Jakob Meyer zum Hasen: Hans Holbein the Younger, 1516; silverpoint, red chalk, and traces of black pencil on white coated paper, 281 x 190 mm (Kupferstichkabinett, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel)




 
Portrait of Lady Mary Guildford: Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1527; black and coloured chalks, 55,2 x 38,5 cm (Kupferstichkabinett, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel)




 
Head of a Woman: Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1522, drawing (Musée du Louvre, Paris)





Studies of the Hands of Erasmus of Rotterdam: Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1523; silverpoint, ruddle, and black chalks on white coated paper, 20.6 x 15.3 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

 
Study for the Family Portrait of Sir Thomas More: Hans Holbein the Younger, c. 1527; pen and brush in black on top of chalk sketch, 38.9 x 52.4 cm (Kupferstichkabinett, Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel)

This post dedicated to Angelica and to Jim Dine

Joe Brainard: Art (written no later than 1972), in The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard, edited by Ron Padgett (2012)