Male head 

Editor: Here we have Eugen Eduard Schäffer's "Male Head," a drawing made with pencil and ink that is currently housed at the Städel Museum. There is an incomplete and vulnerable quality to it that I find quite touching. What strikes you most about this work? Curator: I am fascinated by the almost caricature-like emphasis on the brow and nose. It speaks to the artistic practice of isolating features to amplify inner qualities. Don't you see it too? It seems Schäffer is drawing not just a likeness, but an archetype, the exaggerated features symbolizing perhaps authority, intellect, or even perhaps vulnerability masked by strong features? Editor: I see what you mean! The brows are so prominent, casting a shadow over the eyes. But an archetype of what, exactly? What’s he trying to evoke? Curator: Perhaps an echo of the Roman busts which communicated power, knowledge, a stoic resolve. Notice the unfinished quality too; does that contribute or challenge that potential meaning for you? Is it power eroding? Editor: The unfinished quality definitely makes it more human, less imposing. It reminds me that even those in power are still individuals. Curator: Precisely! It is that tension - between the grand symbolic gestures and the fragile lines - that grants this drawing such potent psychological weight. Editor: So, the incompleteness creates that feeling? And knowing the context, or thinking about Roman portraiture, fills the artwork with an inner life that I missed. Curator: Exactly. It is amazing what lines, context and suggestion can represent and embody, don't you agree? Editor: Definitely! I'll never look at unfinished drawings the same way again. Thanks!