Gropius House

Ati’s Sketches

This charming series of sketches was made by 13-year-old Ati Gropius in 1939, the year after the family moved into their Lincoln house. The series was called “The Majority” because Gropius claimed that Ise, the subject of the drawings, always had the last word.  During this period, Ati referred to her mother as “Leaden Duck” because she couldn’t swim. In these sketches, Ati gently pokes fun at her mother, whose behavior was often incomprehensible to her.