Female Semi-Nude with Hat c. 1910

Lovis Corinth made this nude drawing of a woman with ink wash, and you can tell he's feeling his way through the tones. The different dilutions of the ink tell a story of decision making, a searching for form. I like the way the darkest darks are used to pull the figure forward, almost as if she's emerging from the page, the chair dissolving behind her. The hand that supports her head is just beautiful, the way Corinth gives us the gesture with such minimal means. The hat, if you can call it that, is another site of playful mark-making; it's almost abstract, like a dark cloud hovering above her. This piece reminds me of other artist’s nude studies such as Suzanne Valadon, with their similar emphasis on line and form, a way of thinking through painting, using drawing as a kind of raw material. These aren't finished works, necessarily, but they give us access to the artist's thought process, the way they build an image from the ground up. It's like overhearing a conversation, full of starts, stops, and revisions. And that’s what makes it so alive.