Istuva malli, luonnos 1912 - 1913

Magnus Enckell made this sketch, titled "Istuva malli, luonnos" – or "Seated Model, Sketch" - using watercolor, likely at the turn of the 20th century. Though Enckell was Finnish, his travels in France and Italy exposed him to a wider world of art academies and traditions, in which life-drawing was a central exercise. It was an academic convention to begin with a sketch of the model's pose in pencil. Enckell does this, but then seems to deliberately undermine the tradition by adding washes of color, some that seem to define the model's contours, but others that float free from the body as abstract color-fields. In this way, Enckell seems to be critiquing artistic institutions and hinting at the future of modern art, where color and form would become divorced from the task of representing the world. If you’re interested in learning more, look at the records of art academies in Europe to understand the conventions Enckell was working against.