“Ennui,” above, with its profusion of images, is one of Floyd’s more enigmatic drawings. Be sure to click to enlarge and check out the detail of the left border.
A second, more colorful version of this drawing carries the words “…and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The latter was a small theme of Floyd’s, and we’ll see more examples of it in future posts.
The orangutan like all his kind
has no tail on his behind
Ripe and rotten figs his ration
Knows he naught of constipation
Orang wives of orange hue
Orang aunts and uncles too
Live in lofty jungle trees
Droppings drop with rural ease
Passersby below them wonder
What the dickens they are under
Floyd’s title here is a literal translation of the Indonesian word orangutan, orang (person) –utan (of the woods or forest). It’s one of few Indonesian words used in English. But see Wikipedia for detailed etymology.
Floyd’s works reflect his admiration for the styles of artists from Japan and China, and he used similar styles in several of his drawings.
Suzuki Harunobu (c. 1725 – 8 July 1770) was a Japanese designer of woodblock print art in the ukiyo-e style, an innovator, the first to produce full-color prints (nishiki-e) in 1765, rendering obsolete the former modes of two- and three-color prints. From Wikipedia.
Katsushika Hokusai (c. 31 October 1760 – 10 May 1849), known as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. From Wikipedia.
Floyd R. Peterson 
Written
on April 19, 2025