![Drawings for Jay: Greek warriors, sages and athletes. Birds. [For James Laughlin, L03.]](/uploads/r/thomas-merton-center-at-bellarmine-university/c/7/a/c7a7a4264aeee2da743c6fbb257bf22a9d1da93b55ec044de7146daab65a1e35/e5baa5767f4759ed42c222a3df2a84c70f869748_142.jpg)
![Drawings for Jay: Greek warriors, sages and athletes. Birds. [For James Laughlin, L02.]](/uploads/r/thomas-merton-center-at-bellarmine-university/8/2/2/8220219493f33214269f8e3cbb014af471a800abbdf2de937173be34dc0f6a3a/a8c8bf15002b534e46ede4e6d69e0ff5326ea7c4_142.jpg)
Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Title
Date(s)
- 1930-1968 (Creation)
Extent
6 cubic feet
Name of creator
Biographical history
Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was a writer and Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky. His writings include such classics as The Seven Storey Mountain, New Seeds of Contemplation, and Zen and the Birds of Appetite. Merton is the author of more than seventy books that include poetry, personal journals, collections of letters, social criticism, and writings on peace, justice, and ecumenism.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This record subgroup includes artwork created by Merton. The Merton Center holds over nine hundred of Merton's drawings. Most of his drawings and calligraphies are in black ink on paper (the quality of the paper varies from art media to scraps of notebook paper). Early items in this collection tend to be more concrete images of religious motifs, such as Christ or the Virgin Mary. His later art becomes increasingly abstract, some of which Merton refers to as "graffiti."