Studie zu ‘Orpheus und die Tiere’ c. 1924

This is a study by Franz von Stuck for ‘Orpheus and the Animals’, and I can almost see the artist with his conté crayon, circling around the figure, trying to capture the tension and beauty of the pose. I love how the red chalk pops against the grey paper; it gives the figure a kind of raw energy, like he’s about to leap off the page. Look at the way Stuck uses those quick, confident lines to define the muscles and the way the light falls. The texture almost feels like skin. I imagine Stuck thinking about the old masters while he was drawing this, but also pushing the boundaries of what a figure study could be. It’s like he’s saying, "I'm part of this conversation, and I've got something new to add." And that's what it's all about, right? We're all just riffing off each other, taking what came before and making it our own. Each mark is a little echo of everything that's ever been made, and a shout into the future.