Tiger 

Hans Thoma made this charcoal drawing of a tiger at an unknown date. Looking at this image today, we might think about the cultural moment in which a European artist would take the tiger as a subject. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the tiger had become an important symbol in European culture representing the untamed power of nature. Consider how the image creates meaning through visual codes and historical associations. Thoma’s drawing does not represent the tiger in its natural habitat, but rather, focuses on the animal’s face, conveying the power and intensity of its gaze. The drawing emphasizes certain social structures of its own time. It is hard to imagine such a work being made without the artist having access to such an animal in a zoo or menagerie. Understanding this artwork better would involve research into the cultural history of the tiger in Europe, as well as the history of zoos and animal representation. The meaning of art is always contingent on social and institutional context.