Tegning efter gips. En fod 1870 - 1874

Joakim Skovgaard rendered this drawing of a plaster foot with brown wash on paper. The monochromatic palette casts an eerie gaze on the sculpture; its texture and form are foregrounded in the way it reflects light. The formal composition, with its raking light across the foot, guides our eyes from the defined toes to the smooth, truncated heel. Skovgaard seems less interested in the anatomical accuracy, and more in the interplay of light and shadow across the sculptural form. The dark background and lightly shaded foreground plane isolate the object, removing it from any familiar context. This encourages a semiotic reading, where the foot as a signifier takes on multiple meanings. It is both a study of form and a meditation on classical ideals of beauty, made incomplete and unsettling.