Back figure (_) 

This quick sketch, Back Figure, was made by Wilhelm Amandus Beer in Germany, probably in the second half of the 19th century, using graphite on paper. We see a figure, only roughly sketched in, with their back to us. The image gives us very little information, but perhaps that is the point. This was a period in which many artists were keen to assert the autonomy of art from external social demands. ‘Art for art’s sake’ was the catchphrase. The artist doesn’t want to tell us a story or convey a moral lesson; he simply wants us to appreciate the skill and freedom involved in the act of drawing. Of course, this aesthetic stance was itself a social statement, a way of rejecting academic conventions and the stuffy values of the German middle classes. As art historians, we might want to research the exhibition culture of the time, the debates about realism, and the rise of art criticism in order to place this sketch in its proper context. By doing so, we can begin to understand the complex social forces that shaped the art of the period.