DESCRIPTION: John Covert (American, 1882-1960) daybook pages. Three pages covering January through June 1944. An artist at the forefront of the American Modernism movement, Covert kept methodically annotated and encrypted daybooks recording not only business endeavors, but also exploration of painterly puns and codes. Covert appropriated Arabic numbers and phonetic symbols to produce codes that he changed from year to year; secret writing and cryptography were common strategies of modernist artists in the late teens and early twenties. In the early 1940s Covert included highlights of days he was sober (red) and inebriated (gray). From the Arensberg Family collection. In a simple wooden frame. MEASUREMENTS: 13-2/3" x 32-1/4"; overall with frame 19" x 38-1/2". CONDITION: With toning as expected with age. Not examined out of frame.