Knowing Abe

Knowing Abe

I met Abe Lincoln when I was at Florida State University in 1964. I was supposed to be studying chemistry, but, instead, was searching the archives for a picture of Abe Lincoln.

To my surprise, I found, what the library said was an original photo of Abe Lincoln that had been misfiled. I asked them to make me a copy of that photo and used it to study old Abe, as he had seldom been studied before.

Abe and I met nightly in our house, where I had made space to do the drawing. I used fine drawing paper and a selection of pencils that varied from hard to soft, with each allowing me to introduce special effects. Since I worked by eye, rather than using measurements, I learned that my eye was far from perfect. I discovered, after a fresh look, taken when I stopped drawing for a while, that one side of his face was too narrow. I erased half the picture and started again.

As we became close to one another, I studied is face intensely. I worked hard to capture his serious expression, touched with a little sadness. His hard cheeks were protruding, dropping, quickly, into flattened cheeks. He was a relatively young man, with no hint of a beard. One large ear was visible. I combed his full head of hair as a barber would, placing his part carefully.

I moved to his shirt, bow tie, vest and jacket, capturing the white shirt contrasting with his dark suit, vest, tie and hair. I eliminated a black cord that held a watch, not visible, since it disturbed the symmetry of the picture.

Abe and I had many conversations as he posed for my drawing. It would be fair to say that I did most of the talking and he was patient with my efforts to capture his likeness. Abe Lincoln impressed me with his seriousness, born from the heavy responsibility to keep our country together, and the pain to see so many lives lost. I could see it in his face and felt sad that this great leader would, himself, lose his life so brutally to save the Union for us all.

^® Knowing Abe, Norman F. Estrin, February 9, 2017