Figure studies. Verso: Hills by the Sea 

Editor: So this is Walter Geikie's "Figure studies. Verso: Hills by the Sea," from the Tate Collections. The sketch feels very immediate, and I'm struck by the artist's hand visible in the hasty lines. What can you tell us about this work? Curator: Notice how Geikie's pencil captures the figures in action. The emphasis isn't on refined detail, but on the labor itself. Are they fishing, perhaps? Consider the paper's texture, the graphite's weight. This is about the process of observing and recording work, the means of production made visible. Editor: It's like we're seeing the artist think through the act of drawing, connecting labor and artmaking. I never thought of it that way! Curator: Exactly. It makes you question the hierarchy between the working class subject and the artistic process.