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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

1925

  • Work on this object began.

1935

  • Work on this object ended.

2021

2025

  • You found it!

Drawing, Study for Don Quixote

This is a Drawing. It was written by Miguel de Cervantes and illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer and made for (as the client) Nonesuch Press.

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Mr. Leslie Schreyer as part of Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

It is dated ca. 1930. Its medium is gouache and chalk. It is a part of the department.

For his illustrations of Don Quixote, Kauffer expressed the psychological unraveling of the protagonist as he assumes the persona of a knight and undertakes a quest of honor and love. Kauffer’s own struggle with the project’s deadlines echoed the emotional collapse of Don Quixote. He wrote in a 1928 letter to a friend, “In the meantime my ‘Quixote’ remains a dream. Poor fellow he lies in a heap—of only lines and . . . patterns—none of them yet put together.”

It is credited Collection of Leslie, Judith and Gabrielle Schreyer.

Its dimensions are

Frame H x W x D: 59.7 × 44.5 cm (23 1/2 × 17 1/2 in.) Note: Object dimensions unknown

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Underground Modernist: E. McKnight Kauffer.

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If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/2318805219/ |title=Drawing, Study for Don Quixote |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=15 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>