The Shop thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case I, Shelf 128, Box B

The Shop

Drawing
ca. 1945 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Although he trained as an actor, Rolf Brandt enjoyed drawing and making collages. In his native Germany he developed an interest in Dada and Surrealism and in Bauhaus artists such as Paul Klee. He moved to London from Hamburg in the early 1930s with his brother Bill (1904–83), who became famous as a photographer.

This drawing was made for a short story written by Brandt himself. It reflects the Surrealist quality of Brandt’s imagination, whereby even a shop on a quiet country road takes on an eerie quality. Disembodied hands point to the resemblance between a child-like but ghostly face in the shop window and an equally ghostly face on a map.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • The Shop (assigned by artist)
  • The Man With The Red Umbrella (series title)
Materials and techniques
Graphite pencil on white paper
Brief description
Drawing for 'The Man With The Red Umbrella' a short story written and illustrated by Rolf Brandt, United Kingdom, ca. 1945
Physical description
A landscape with a road curving from foreground to the horizon; on the left in foreground a building in sharp perspective with tiled roof, smoking chimney, closed door and ?a window with a hazy image of a woman's head and shoulders; to the right: hands holding an unfolded piece of paper on which is inscribed a drawing resembling, on one side, the face in the 'window'.. The paper is thin and may be Japanese, slightly discoloured through age and pasted to a support sheet on the upper margin.
Dimensions
  • Irregular height: 29.5cm
  • Irregular width: 23.3cm
  • Support sheet height: 30cm
  • Support sheet width: 23.4cm
Style
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
  • '2/Chap.II...they compared it with the /drawing...' (Inscribed in pencil)
  • 'RB' (Artist's monongram to right of pencil inscription)
  • '8.4 Umbrella 2973/ 2 ?120AT 30 Oct. Susan 7.5' (Inscribed variously in pencil on the back of the support sheet)
Credit line
Given by the artist's daughter, Susan Brandt
Production
This is one of a number of drawings made to illustrate 'The Man With The Red Umbrella', a short story by Rolf Brandt.
Subjects depicted
Literary reference'The Man With The Red Umbrella', written and illustrated by Rolf Brandt (unpublished)
Summary
Although he trained as an actor, Rolf Brandt enjoyed drawing and making collages. In his native Germany he developed an interest in Dada and Surrealism and in Bauhaus artists such as Paul Klee. He moved to London from Hamburg in the early 1930s with his brother Bill (1904–83), who became famous as a photographer.

This drawing was made for a short story written by Brandt himself. It reflects the Surrealist quality of Brandt’s imagination, whereby even a shop on a quiet country road takes on an eerie quality. Disembodied hands point to the resemblance between a child-like but ghostly face in the shop window and an equally ghostly face on a map.
Collection
Accession number
E.549-2005

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdDecember 17, 2005
Record URL
Download as: JSON