1893
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Bust of a Woman, Seen from Behind is a 1893 by Adolph von Menzel, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a woman’s neck and the back of her head, drawn in quick, dark strokes. Her hair is loosely pinned, and the light catches the curve of her ear. Menzel made this late in life, using a carpenter’s pencil—thick, soft lead that smudges easily. He rubbed the lines with rolled paper to soften them, making the shadows feel warm and alive. These weren’t sketches; he called them finished works. If you like how light plays on simple shapes, look up *sfumato*.
Adolph Menzel left more than 5,000 drawings created during a long and successful career that spanned the 19th century. Near the end of his life, when this drawing was made, he used a carpenter's pencil--a broad, flat-pointed lead pencil made of soft graphite--and stumping (rubbing with bits of tightly rolled paper or leather) to created numerous studies of heads of models that he considered independent works of art. In this drawing of a woman seen from behind from the shoulders up, the virtuosity of Menzel's stumping creates the effect of tangible surfaces and light falling on them,…
Adolph Menzel drew continuously and had a special coat made with deep pockets to hold his sketchpad, pencils, shading stumps, and gum eraser.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel was a German Realist artist noted for drawings, etchings, and paintings.
See the richer artist page
