Modellstudie, Alte Frau, Halbes Profil 1885

Albin Egger-Lienz made this drawing of an old woman in profile using charcoal sometime before 1926. It’s a study, and invites us to consider the artist’s relationship to his subject, as well as the broader social function of portraiture at the time. Egger-Lienz was an Austrian artist who lived through a period of great social upheaval. Austria at this time was a highly stratified society, and the representation of different social classes was often loaded with political meaning. How does the artist choose to depict this woman? What does her dress and hairstyle tell us about her social standing? How does the artist attempt to create a sense of dignity or perhaps to suggest a lack thereof? As historians, we can examine sketches and studies like this alongside other historical documents to build a more complete picture of the society in which they were made. By looking at photographs, census records, and other visual and textual sources, we can better understand the ways in which people of different social classes were represented and the power dynamics that shaped those representations.