Head of a Model (Tete de modele) 

Alphonse Legros made this etching, Head of a Model, at some point during his career. Like many artists in 19th-century France, Legros drew on a network of models to create his art. Here, he depicts one such figure, his face etched in remarkable detail. Legros was committed to the idea of art for art's sake. But we can still ask questions about the politics of imagery here. For example, who was this man? Did he have any say in how he was depicted? How did the relationship between artist and model reflect the social hierarchies of the time? Was Legros aware of, or did he resist those hierarchies? Historians can look at letters and studio records to reconstruct the social conditions of artistic production. Considering such questions helps us understand how art reflects and shapes our understanding of the world.