Ascending Male Nude n.d.

Editor: This is "Ascending Male Nude," a drawing of uncertain date by Michelangelo, rendered in chalk and charcoal on paper. It strikes me as a really physical piece; the man seems to strain, almost fighting gravity. What strikes you when you look at this drawing? Curator: Consider the materiality. Charcoal, chalk, paper – readily available, relatively inexpensive materials. Michelangelo, even as a master, grounded himself in the accessibility of art production. What does the choice of these materials, versus, say, marble, tell us about the *making* of this image? Editor: That it might have been preparatory? A study rather than a final work? Curator: Precisely. This challenges the traditional hierarchy, doesn't it? Is a preparatory sketch somehow ‘lesser’ than a finished painting or sculpture? The drawing allows us to think about Michelangelo's labour, the physicality of rendering that idealized form. You see the erasures, the re-workings...it shows us process, labour. Editor: So, instead of focusing on the idealized body, we're meant to consider the effort required to *create* that ideal? How does that shift our understanding? Curator: It reveals the construction of "genius". Not some inherent talent, but skilled, practiced labour with base materials. This work provides us to glimpse art as work rather than rarefied "inspiration". The consumption of this image now encourages us to analyze what goes into the art-making process itself. Editor: I never considered the artist's effort that much before, but seeing it this way makes it feel more real, more connected to everyday work. Curator: Exactly! The very texture of the charcoal on the rough paper links to that sense of artistic labour that’s not always immediately obvious. We go past the idealized Renaissance art piece towards tangible human labour. Editor: Well, I will never look at a Michelangelo drawing the same way again. Considering art as a process with concrete physical inputs helps demystify artistic work.