Featured Head Drawing of a man with tree root growing out of his head Help with signature

I don't think it's an attempt at anything other than the artist thinking it was a Cool Idea.

But I agree about student piece.

Also... I am not convinced that the list on the back has anything to do with the drawing. I'm thinking someone made a list on a piece of paper and at some other time someone doodled on the other side of the piece of paper.

And then someone framed it.

 

Good points, Jivvy!

 

That was my first reaction, that the list was written on a piece of paper/card stock that later suited the needs of backing the drawing. It looks like notes for a library search when the organization was Dewey decimal & you had to work through a card file. The inclusion of copyright dates & the circling of the last name initials support this.

Question is: did the same hand that wrote the list also do the drawing? Can the list help decipher the signature?

 

My impression is that a hand older-then-the-artist's wrote the list.

But signatures don't always compare well to everyday script.

 

Now we're cooking. I could not come up with a reason for the circled letters.

 

My impression is that they are not the same hand, but thought I'd throw it out there for other eyes & opinions.

The 1966 copyright date for the volume with the Hughes poem may put a floor under the time when drawing was done. Everyone was reading Tolkien in the 60s. I still say ents.

I had not heard of the Jesuit poet Feeney until now.

 

I totally skimmed past your earlier "ents" comment.

For me, the mystery of this piece is now solved.