Model study of a sleeping girl c. 1890

Curator: Let's turn our attention to "Model study of a sleeping girl," an oil painting created circa 1890 by Wilhelm Altheim, housed here at the Städel Museum. Editor: It’s undeniably tender. There’s a vulnerability to her slumped posture and averted gaze that feels very intimate. Curator: As a "model study," this piece offered Altheim a chance to work through the techniques common within Academic art. You see an interesting rendering of the female form, one intended for the male gaze, through careful application of oil paints and classical poses, although clearly of a model during downtime, not posing. Editor: And there is so much history in a “model study.” We should consider whose bodies get memorialized this way and in what conditions the posing happens. Curator: Exactly, the institutional and societal gaze informs its creation, circulation and even our very reception of this kind of painting. Editor: There is a complex layering of themes here, sleep being often linked with femininity and passivity and it can sometimes feel difficult not to perpetuate problematic representations in such works. How do you understand the subject’s exhaustion, which to me dominates the mood? Curator: Her body’s exhaustion, perhaps a common situation for these models, hints at those unseen pressures and social dynamics behind the canvas. The academic system also puts pressure on aspiring artists. It reveals a slice of history largely ignored, doesn’t it? Editor: Absolutely. When we discuss paintings, we should be encouraging discussion, connecting what was happening then to what’s happening now and question its legacy. Curator: Agreed. By studying such a seemingly simple scene, we not only appreciate the artistic technique and training, but also examine the political economy and its impact. Editor: Paintings like these challenge us to examine the world they emerged from and reflect critically on how they persist in our own.