Hallelujah!

DateNovember 20 - December 5, 1971

Artist/Maker Eddie Arning (1898 - 1993)

MediumOil pastel and pencil on wove paper

DimensionsUnframed: 22 1/16 x 32in. (56 x 81.3cm) Framed: 30 3/8 x 39 7/8in.

Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Sackton

Object number1984.201.7

DescriptionA bright blue outer border approximately 1 1/8-inches wide encloses the whole, followed by a green inner border approximately 3/4-inches wide. In the center stands a male figure in a black, knee-length coat with a red cross on a white ground over his chest, holding a book in his proper R hand. Slightly above him and to either side are two male figures, the same slightly below him. All eight of these upper and lower male figures wear blue pants, white shirts with a red cross over black on their chests, and black sleeves; each holds a book and his head is in profile to the right. Interspersed among these figures are green and brown plants and plant leaves. Lettering appears in the upper part of the composition.

Modern 1 1/4-inch flat, black-painted frame added by AARFAC.
Label TextPatterning is a vital factor in this stylized interpretation of a group of choirboys. The plants with elliptic leaves appear in many of Arning's drawings; here they are a gratuitous addition having no prototype in the original source of inspiration, which was an advertisement for Renuzit Spray Starch that appeared in GOOD HOUSEKEEPING magazine in August 1971. The central figure's placement and his black garb are also Arning introductions.
InscribedIn pencil in script on the reverse is: "Eddie Arning." In oil pastel crayon acrossthe top of the compositional area in script is "halleluj ah ! hallE lujah!" (words are broken up by top of composition). In purple ink in the lower right corner on the reverse is Sackton's inventory number, "1637" [erroneous for "1638"].
ProvenanceAARFAC's donors, D/M Alexander Sackton, acquired this drawing directly from the artist in 1971.