Hatpin Figure - Robert Lohman, C. 1972

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Hatpin Figure*
Robert Lohman, c. 1972

In Hatpin Figure, Lohman builds the human body out of clothing, negative space, and … Read more Hatpin Figure*
Robert Lohman, c. 1972

In Hatpin Figure, Lohman builds the human body out of clothing, negative space, and a collection of linear interruptions. The figure is not immediately obvious because the face and anatomy have been absorbed into the costume. Rather than drawing a person and then dressing them, Lohman allows hat, garment, and body to develop as one continuous form.

The strongest reading begins at the top. A large rounded crown rises above several horizontal bands that resemble wrapped ribbon or layered fabric. From this crown, a broad brim extends dramatically toward the left. Its pointed edge and sweeping gray underside give it the exaggerated scale of theatrical or high-fashion millinery.

The hat is so large that it almost replaces the head. Only a pale facial profile remains visible below it, surrounded by a dark gray oval. The negative white form appears to contain a forehead, nose, lips, and chin turned toward the left, although Lohman leaves the features incomplete. The face seems less drawn than carved out of the surrounding wash.

That use of negative space gives the figure a ghostlike quality. The person is present, but their identity has been abstracted. We see the surrounding structure more clearly than the face itself: the hat, collar, garment, pins, and sweeping lines all possess greater visual authority than the individual wearing them.

This reversal is important. Clothing ordinarily expresses or decorates identity, but here it nearly consumes it. The figure becomes an arrangement of surfaces attached to an anonymous interior. Lohman may be treating fashion as performance—the public silhouette that can become more recognizable than the private person beneath it.

The dark lines ending in rounded points are the work’s most distinctive marks. They strongly suggest hatpins, sewing pins, or tools associated with fitting and constructing clothing. One passes diagonally through the brim, another crosses the face and hat, and several descend along the right side of the garment.

They do not all behave realistically. Some are too long or appear to pass through the figure in impossible ways. Lohman uses them partly as objects and partly as compositional lines, connecting distant areas of the sheet and preventing the large gray form from becoming static.

Their presence also introduces a mild sense of discomfort. Pins are practical and decorative, but they are sharp. They fasten surfaces by piercing them. The figure therefore appears both carefully adorned and slightly threatened by the instruments holding the appearance together.

That tension between elegance and vulnerability gives Hatpin Figure more emotional depth than a simple fashion study. The person may be wearing a beautifully constructed costume, but the costume has become restrictive. It is difficult to tell whether the pins ornament the figure, secure the clothing, or hold the person in place.

The lower portion expands into a long garment that fills most of the vertical sheet. Lohman describes it through pale gray strokes, darker borders, and groups of short diagonal lines. These marks suggest woven pattern, seams, shadows, or folds of fabric without settling into one specific material.

The broadening silhouette gives the work the presence of a formal portrait, perhaps of a person wearing an evening coat, cape, or elaborately shaped dress. Yet the body beneath the garment is almost entirely absent. There are no clearly defined arms, waist, or legs. The clothing becomes the body’s substitute.

Along the right, a bold black contour curves outward before narrowing toward the lower edge. Several thinner lines run beside it. These could represent feathers descending from the hat, long hair, ornamental ribbons, or the flowing edge of the garment. Their elegance helps maintain the fashion reading, but they also resemble exposed wires or tendons.

This ability to move between decorative and anatomical readings is typical of Lohman’s handling of the figure. A line may describe hair in one moment and a structural support in the next. A wash may represent fabric, flesh, or shadow. He keeps the image open by refusing to assign every mark one permanent function.

The figure’s posture is also difficult to determine. It appears upright, but the enlarged hat and tapering body create a slight forward lean. The face seems lowered, giving the person a private or withdrawn presence. Despite the flamboyance of the costume, there is no sense that the figure is proudly posing for an audience.

Instead, the person seems enclosed within their own appearance. The hat shades the face, the garment covers the body, and the pins create a framework around both. Lohman presents fashion not simply as display, but as a form of concealment.

The composition is nearly symmetrical in weight even though its forms are irregular. The hat extends left, while the long dark contours and pins pull toward the right. The broad garment stabilizes the lower half, and the figure remains centered despite the sweeping movement around it.

Lohman’s use of gray wash softens the sharpness of the ink lines. The washes spread unevenly across the paper, creating edges that feel atmospheric rather than mechanically controlled. This gives the garment a worn, dreamlike quality and prevents the work from resembling a precise costume design.

The contrast between loose wash and deliberate line also mirrors the work’s subject. Fabric and identity appear fluid, while the pins attempt to impose structure. Softness is continually crossed by rigidity.

Dated November 29, 1972, the drawing shares formal qualities with Lohman’s Surveillance and Watchers: a monochromatic palette, unstable anatomy, and thin lines that penetrate or organize the body. However, it lacks the multiplied eyes, ears, signals, and information networks that make those works explicitly concerned with observation.

The psychological tension here appears to come from presentation and selfhood rather than state paranoia. Hatpin Figure may be understood as a person constructed through external appearance, with identity hidden beneath costume and expectation. The body has become a kind of mannequin upon which public identity is pinned.

There is also humor in the excess. The hat is too large, the pins are too long, and the body is almost absurdly narrow beneath its expanding garment. Lohman exaggerates fashion until it becomes surreal, but he does not fully mock the figure. The drawing retains an elegance within its strangeness.

The drawing is about the uncertain border between a person and the appearance they construct. Lohman gives us a figure who can be recognized through clothing but not fully known through the face. The hat, pins, patterns, and flowing edges create an impressive exterior, while the individual at the center remains a pale and almost empty 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