Rare original drawing by the eleven-year-old poet featuring a lute-playing cherub singing with a robin sitting on a perch. Plath made visual art throughout her life in a wide variety of mediums: from collage to oils, watercolor to pastels. This early piece, executed in colored pencil and crayon, features two figures often symbolic of poets and poetry - the songbird and the lute - and is emblematic of Plath's art at the time: "She derived most of her early artwork [. ] from popular images of fairies and Mother Goose figures that she copied from all forms of publications, at a time when the Victorian aesthetic of flower bouquets and bluebirds, rosy-cheeked children, and cherubic angels dominated commercial and popular art forms" (Connors 10). Plath did not merely dabble in art: it was in many ways central to her creative practice. Before she settled firmly on poetry in college, she seriously considered majoring in art. As Dorothy Moss, curator of the 2017 Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery exhibition of Plath's art, "One Life: Sylvia Plath," observed: "I think that once you know that she drew and painted and sketched constantly as a child, and realize that she went to college to major in art, you'll start seeing how vivid her descriptions are, and how beautifully she put visual images into words." Plath would later write to her mother (who has annotated the verso and dated the piece to "2/4/44"): "I feel I'm developing a kind of primitive style of my own which I am very fond of" (August 28th, 1956). Provenance: Acquired by the previous owner directly from Sylvia's mother Aurelia, who was a personal friend of the buyer. Plath's mother received little money from Plath's increasingly lucrative estate which was controlled by her husband, the poet Ted Hughes, and so she occasionally sold Plath's personal items to supplement her income. A charming and moving original work from one of the defining poets of the 20th century. 6'' x 4.5''. Original drawing on plain paper, executed in colored pencil and crayon. Initialed by Plath in the lower right corner: "By / SP." Plath's mother Aurelia's penciled annotation "By / Sylvia / 2/4/44" to verso. Mild toning, edgewear. Some faint discoloration here and there. Two pin holes to top corners. Right edge a little rough as if torn from notebook or other book. Else clean and sound.
