Femme couchée 1867

This is a drawing by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, called "Femme Couchée," which translates to "Reclining Woman." It's made with graphite on paper. The choice of material immediately sets a tone. Graphite, a humble substance we know from pencils, is built from layers of carbon atoms that shear off easily, allowing the artist to deposit them on the page. Look closely, and you can see the strokes, hatched closely together to build up areas of shadow. There is a grid that underlies the image, a pragmatic aid in translating a three-dimensional form to a flat surface, and perhaps scaling it up from an earlier sketch. The marks of process are right there on the surface. This directness is a reminder that art is a form of work, and the choices artists make about materials and techniques are always meaningful. It encourages us to value the skill and labor involved in its making.