Today’s card was almost about Peter Blume. Almost. I don’t know if I can do a Peter Blume card. I was fascinated by Peter Blume when I was really young — no older than eight years old. My cousins (thanks, Norma and Karen!) gave me a game called Masterpiece. I may have mentioned it in a previous post. The game had cards featuring art from the Art Institute of Chicago — including Peter Blume’s painting, The Rock.

Much to my surprise, Peter Blume was a post office muralist. Not surprisingly…he is SO sketchy. Oh — my — goodness. I believe that just about every Sketchy Space I’ve ever made has been inspired by Blume to a degree. When I look at his work, I think, “This IS a Sketchy Space. What can I possibly do with it?” So, there may never be a Peter Blume card — or every card is a Peter Blume card.

And so… Card 332 was not directly inspired by Blume, but by Joseph Lasker (who studied with my other Masterpiece favorite, Hans Hofmann).

“In an anecdote later recounted by his son David, Lasker claimed that his teacher Hofmann couldn’t tell the difference between fine painting and hastily-drawn charcoal scribbles.”

Well…maybe that is why I like Hofmann so much. Kidding. That is some foolish art snobbery nonsense right there. A hastily-drawn charcoal scribble does not have to lack intent or, as Hofmann might say, plasticity. And maybe, just maybe, it is also much more interesting than a pastoral scene that looks like a photograph. Oh, Joseph Lasker. One hopes you learned in the end (at the least, I think you learned something from Hofmann).

Lasker made two post office murals: An Incident in the King Philip War – 1670 (Millbury, Massachusetts) and Copper Mining in Calumet (Calumet, Michigan).