To recall after more than forty-six years what motivated these drawings (ca 1961--1962) is difficult. Was it the masks of art or of life or an amalgam of both: joy and sorrow, foolishness, folly, creativity  stymied or problematized, and anger, with purity and goodness as the figurehead of a fanciful bark, and a long-tailed malevolent spirit perched on the stern. Growing from within the boat is a mast, a plant whose leaves are sheets of paper, text and images, and whose bloom is a black-eyed susan [?]; art flowers, art triumphs and shelters the human comedy. The boat’s direction is unknown; even Purity has closed her eyes, trusting to good winds to set her direction right. India ink, wash, brush, and pen were used on newsprint, perhaps as a first idea. Then the figures were reiterated and elaborated on notebook sheets measuring c 7 1/2 X 11 inches. A ship of fools-- I had not yet encountered Sebastian Brant’s book, but perhaps I had heard about it--with an idealized head recalling my infatuation with Picasso. The drawings are a form of play, visualizing ideas or themes and letting imagination unplanned unfold; they were not preparatory for a “grander” image. I do not know why the serious sad fool is pictured as a bloated young man. The costumes refer to my admiration for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when ruffs were stylish and actors were plentiful. Is the happy fool who holds a flower a black-suited prince,  and his companion a troubled visual artist? Line as calligraphic embellishment was unleashed --perhaps with the thought that it suited the “subjects.”