The German students in the War of Liberation of 1813 1908

Ferdinand Hodler made this drawing, The German Students in the War of Liberation of 1813, at some point in his career, though the exact date is unknown. It looks like he's laying down marks to find the structure and movement of the figures within the scene. There's something about the texture and lines in this drawing that feels so raw and immediate. Hodler isn't trying to hide his process, right? The lines are confident, but they overlap, showing us the artist's hand as he searches for the right form. Look closely at the lines depicting the soldiers marching, for example. See how the energy conveyed makes you think about not just the students in the drawing but also the process of drawing itself? Hodler’s drawing style reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker who also used very rudimentary draughtsmanship, where the vulnerability of the line creates this immediacy between the artwork and the viewer. Both artists invite us to consider the process of artmaking as something active, evolving and unresolved, rather than fixed or static.