Two Abstracted and Lonely Figures - Robert Lohman, C. 1962

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Two Abstracted and Lonely Figures*
Robert Lohman, c. 1962

Robert Lohman’s Two Abstracted and Lonely Figures, dated 1962, is a … Read more Two Abstracted and Lonely Figures*
Robert Lohman, c. 1962

Robert Lohman’s Two Abstracted and Lonely Figures, dated 1962, is a restrained and elegant work that uses a limited blue palette to explore distance, solitude, and the expressive possibilities of the human form. The composition is divided into two distinct presences: a more animated figure on the left and a quieter, seated or profile-like figure on the right. They occupy the same sheet, yet they do not meet. The open space between them becomes one of the most important parts of the work, turning the paper itself into a field of separation.

The left figure is the more physically active of the two. Lohman builds it from sweeping blue contours, pale washes, and curving bodily suggestions. The head, torso, arm, and lower body are all implied, but never fully described. The figure appears to bend inward and outward at once, with looping marks around the torso and limbs creating a sense of motion. It feels almost sculptural, as though Lohman is turning the body in space through line rather than modeling it through shadow.

The right figure is more reserved. Its form is simpler, more vertical, and more self-contained. The head appears in profile, outlined by a continuous blue contour that curls around the body like a protective shell. The seated posture gives this figure a contemplative quality. Compared with the left figure’s gestural movement, the right figure feels still, almost withdrawn into its own shape. Lohman’s decision to render both figures in pale blues and grays heightens their quietness, making them appear less like solid bodies and more like traces of presence.

The limited palette is central to the work’s mood. Blue dominates the composition, ranging from deep cobalt accents to pale gray-blue washes. This chromatic restraint gives the work an austere beauty. Instead of relying on strong color contrasts, Lohman creates interest through density, transparency, and the pressure of the brush. The darker blue marks on the left figure give weight and immediacy, while the softer washes on the right figure create a sense of fading or retreat.

The drawing is economical but highly expressive. Lohman does not overwork the bodies. He allows the figures to remain open, incomplete, and suggestive. The white ground is not a passive background; it provides breathing room and reinforces the emotional distance between the two forms. The figures seem suspended in this open space, each defined as much by what is missing as by what is drawn.

There is also a quiet dialogue between abstraction and figuration. The figures are recognizable enough to carry human feeling, but abstract enough to resist narrative certainty. We are not given a scene, a setting, or a relationship in any literal sense. Instead, Lohman gives us two presences held apart by space, posture, and silence. The loneliness in the piece is not sentimental; it is built formally through distance, spareness, and the refusal of contact.

As a whole, the work demonstrates Lohman’s sensitivity as both draftsman and sculptural thinker. The figures are made with very few means, yet they have a compelling presence. The left figure turns and opens; the right figure sits and recedes. Together, they create a delicate study of human separateness. Lohman does not need elaborate detail to communicate that feeling. He does it through contour, wash, and space.

-Jonathan Flike

*The title of this work was assigned by Visard Gallery.

About the Artist
Robert Lohman was an American artist associated with Indiana modernism, recognized as both a sculptor and painter. The National Gallery of Art identifies Lohman as an American artist, 1919–2001, and holds examples of his 1966 bronze medallic work created with the Medallic Art Company in its collection.

Lohman worked across a wide range of media, including watercolor, oil, wood, plaster, ceramics, and bronze. Biographical sources identify him as a portrait and figure sculptor as well as a painter, with formal study at the John Herron Art Institute, Cranbrook, and Yale. He assisted the noted sculptor Carl Milles at Cranbrook Academy and later served as Director of Fine Arts at Cranbrook from 1947 to 1949. Lohman also taught at Washington University in St. Louis and the Indianapolis Art League, where he remained connected to art education and regional modernist practice.

His work often moves between figuration and abstraction, reflecting the eye of a sculptor and the freedom of a modernist draftsman.

Underrepresented Artist Information
Robert Lohman may also be understood within the broader history of underrepresented LGBT artists in the American Midwest. Documentary records connect him closely with Jerrol T. Davis of Indianapolis, who served as Secretary-Treasurer of Robert Lohman, Inc.; Davis’s obituary confirms his role in Lohman’s company, and later memorial sources identify him as Lohman’s spouse. While historical records from this period often leave same-sex relationships only partially documented, the available evidence points to a significant personal and professional partnership that adds important context to Lohman’s life and legacy. See less