A sculptor, draftsman, and printmaker, Nama often creates works connected to books and poetry. His oeuvre includes many portfolios made in collaboration with poets such as Yves Bonnefoy, Alfred Brendel, and, since 2006, Charles Simic. The present drawing is an unused preparatory study, possibly for the portfolio "Wonders of the Invisible World and other Poems," with poems by Simic and ten etchings by Nama (a copy of which is in the Morgan's collection). Nama creates many studies for such collaborations. Fragments of printed text on the edges of the sheet reveal that the drawing is made on a page taken from an old bound book of music. Nama favored such supports for the layers of associations they add to the work.
Stamped on lower right with the artist's stamp: N and signed in graphite: NAMA.