Weiblicher Akt, stehend, die Händ vor das Gesicht geschlagen 1930

Richard Martin Werner created this pencil drawing, titled Weiblicher Akt, stehend, die Händ vor das Gesicht geschlagen, in 1930. It depicts a standing nude woman with her hands covering her face. The drawing was made in Germany during the interwar period, a time of great social and political upheaval. Werner's choice to depict a nude female figure is significant. In early 20th century Germany, the female nude was a contested symbol, often used to represent both traditional ideals of beauty and modern notions of sexuality and freedom. The woman covering her face suggests that she might be hiding herself from the public gaze. Werner would have been educated within a specific institutional framework that encouraged certain styles and approaches to the figure. Drawings such as this, like academic life drawing, were the foundation of artistic training. To fully understand this drawing, we need to consider the broader context of German art and culture in the 1930s, using resources such as exhibition catalogues, period journals, and artists' biographies. The meaning of art is always contingent on the social and institutional context in which it is made and viewed.