female nude studies, a mid-body 

Luc-Olivier Merson made these female nude studies using pencil on paper, probably sometime in the late 19th century. The most striking thing about a drawing like this is the immediacy of the artist's hand. Pencil is a humble material – graphite encased in wood – but capable of great subtlety. Here, the artist uses delicate lines to suggest the contours of the female form, with smudges creating areas of shadow and depth. The figures emerge from the paper, not through elaborate finish, but by way of suggestion. The drawing represents a kind of labor – the skilled, practiced hand translating observation into a representational line. We can think of this in relation to the labor of the model, holding a pose, contributing her own form to the artwork, even though the finished product bears the artist’s name. Paying attention to the materials and processes of art helps us understand the choices artists make, and to appreciate the skill and effort involved in bringing an artwork into being.