untitled

Elizabeth Layton, artist

1909–1993

untitled, August 1984

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: colored pencil; pencil

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 30.2 x 31.6 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 11 7/8 x 12 7/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 16 x 20 in

Credit line: Gift of Lynn Bretz and Janet Hamburg

Accession number: 2011.0475

Not on display

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Elizabeth “Grandma” Layton was 68 when she took her first art class at Ottawa University (Ottawa, Kansas) in 1977. There she learned the technique of blind contour drawing used to create Woman’s Suffrage, her first known drawing, shown above. She helpfully illustrates this method in the 1984 untitled work hanging here. Layton’s innate talent was quickly recognized, but she had little interest in commercializing her practice. Instead, she used art as a means to advocate for causes she believed in and grapple with mental illness. She credited learning to draw with alleviating her deep depression following the death of her son in 1976.