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Original collaborative drawing by Bob Dylan and Ellen Bernstein, accomplished in ink on a lined 6 x 9 notebook sheet during downtime at the Blood on the Tracks recording sessions at A&R Studios in New York. Created as a folded-paper drawing game, the whimsical figure was assembled in stages without either participant seeing the preceding section: Bernstein drew the head, Dylan added the decorated military torso, Bernstein continued the legs to the knees, and Dylan completed the image with elaborately laced ballerina slippers.
The resulting drawing combines the rigid formality of a bemedaled soldier with the comic incongruity of ballet footwear, offering a playful glimpse of Dylan away from the intensity of the recording process. Bernstein recalled that she and Dylan made the drawing while waiting through studio breaks and playbacks during the rapid New York sessions, in which Dylan moved from song to song with remarkable focus.
Consigned directly by Ellen Bernstein Ziffren, who met Dylan in 1974 and worked closely with him while he composed and recorded Blood on the Tracks. Bernstein occupies a singular place in the album's history as the woman who inspired “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.” Details from her life and time with Dylan entered the song directly: she was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, was preparing to travel to Honolulu, and had identified Queen Anne’s lace for him during a walk near his Minnesota farm. A charming and highly personal artifact from one of Dylan’s most celebrated recording sessions, capturing the artist loose, amused, and enjoying a moment of private, collaborative creativity between takes.
Accompanied by a letter of provenance from Ellen Ziffren.
