Portrait of a man 

Editor: This is a portrait drawing of a man, a pencil on paper work currently residing at the Städel Museum, created by Philipp Winterwerb. The rendering is quite detailed. How do you interpret this work through your lens? Curator: I look at the subtle variations in pencil pressure and hatching. Consider the social context: drawing was a primary mode of both artistic training and middle-class leisure. This likely functioned as a preparatory sketch, a record, or perhaps a token of affection. Note the materiality of the paper itself – likely industrially produced, its texture influencing the pencil's line. Editor: So, you see the drawing as more than just an image? Curator: Precisely. I'm interested in the *making* of this image. Was this for an engraving? Was Winterwerb depicting someone he knew, potentially obscuring or idealizing certain social class markers through stylistic conventions, and if so, what was the artist's class? I wonder about the economics of the paper, the pencil. Where did these raw materials come from and who had access to it at the time? Editor: That’s fascinating. I never considered the production of the art materials themselves. Curator: Indeed, and consider this was made just as photography was developing - a different means of recording likeness and, in its early days, one often patronized by a new bourgeoise - does it compete or complement that rising method and technology? Editor: This helps to consider it in the moment, as well as how the technology influenced portraiture in other ways. I’ll definitely look at art materials differently from now on. Curator: I'm glad! Thinking about art through the lens of materials and social production unlocks so much hidden meaning.