Row of houses c. 1872 - 1873

Wilhelm Busch created this pencil sketch, titled "Row of Houses," and it is now held at the Städel Museum. Busch, a 19th-century German artist, lived during a time of rapid industrialization and social change. In this unassuming sketch of a street, Busch reveals a commentary on German society. The architecture is a vernacular style, the kind ordinary people would live in. The buildings, shoulder-to-shoulder, might suggest the cramped conditions and loss of individuality that accompanied urbanization. With a focus on everyday life, Busch mirrors the burgeoning middle class's concerns and tastes. His art captures the emotional climate of a society grappling with progress, loss, and the search for identity amidst transformation. Busch developed alternative narratives to the academic art of his time by drawing from the ordinary, everyday experience, and perhaps in doing so, speaks to his own identity and place in the world.