Head of a Man, with Various Studies c. 1850

Sanford Robinson Gifford made this drawing, "Head of a Man, with Various Studies," with pen and brown ink on cream laid paper, sometime in the mid-19th century. The disembodied eyes, floating heads, and rudimentary figure studies point to the academic practice of learning to see and represent the human form. In the 19th century, art academies played a central role in shaping artistic production and taste. This drawing gives us a glimpse into the social conditions that shaped artistic training. Students would learn to draw by copying from plaster casts and from life models before attempting their own compositions. We see the legacy of the old European academy in the emphasis on anatomical accuracy. We also see its democratization in the variety of faces rendered. To understand this drawing better, we might research the curricula of the art academies in which Gifford trained. Doing so would reveal the social and institutional context that shaped his artistic vision.