Study of a Young Male Nude Seated 18th-19th century

Curator: This red-chalk drawing is entitled "Study of a Young Male Nude Seated," attributed to Giuseppe Bernardino Bison, created sometime in the 18th or 19th century. It currently resides here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Editor: The first thing that strikes me is how ephemeral it feels. That red chalk gives it this hazy, almost dreamlike quality, doesn’t it? The sitter’s gaze upwards seems to heighten this effect. Curator: Yes, the use of red chalk, also called sanguine, evokes the Old Masters, a connection Bison certainly intended. Beyond mere likeness, we're seeing the idealization of the male form—an idea rooted in classical antiquity but reinterpreted through Romantic sensibilities of the period. Consider how light and shadow play to create both definition and an almost ethereal softness. Editor: The process also interests me. The relative ease with which chalk can be manipulated—smudged, layered—contrasts with the laborious, highly finished paintings we often associate with the academy. It's a study, clearly, but there's an inherent physicality in how that chalk interacts with the paper, leaving granular traces. And observe that the figure's eyes look upward and outside the canvas. What could he be dreaming of, desiring, thinking, or waiting to hear from off stage? Curator: I find the upward gaze incredibly telling. The nude figure is not simply a body but is, rather, animated by thoughts and yearning, and even evokes a classical sculptural hero about to give a speech. These figures symbolized civic virtue and often pointed to something beyond themselves. Even unfinished, there's a sense of possibility here, of potential waiting to be realized. Editor: So true. And in the use of a readily available material like red chalk, Bison is participating in an established practice of academic training—a tradition emphasizing direct observation, while simultaneously engaging with classical ideals through the figure’s suggestive upward gaze. The red chalk's ubiquity might even speak to accessibility in artistic education. Curator: A fitting observation that speaks to the democratization of image making at that time. Thinking about what cultural baggage the image conveys, I find the sitter looks up towards an image of perfection, an unseen deity almost, or at least the sublime... something he feels worthy of. Editor: Ultimately, what we have here is a convergence: a study steeped in tradition yet alive with a tangible materiality. Curator: A dance between the ideal and the real.