The Russian-born artist Peter Blume employed the Renaissance technique of making drawings and multiple small-scale paintings in preparation for his large finished compositions. This drawing, given to the museum by the artist in the 1960s, is one of many studies for the Art Institute’s painting The Rock (1956.338). Taken as a group, the studies for the painting demonstrate the artist’s working method and show the progression of The Rock from an idea to the finished painting.
