Standing cow to the right 

Curator: Let’s turn our attention to a drawing here in the Städel Museum’s collection called "Standing Cow to the Right". We know the artist was Friedrich Wilhelm Hirt. Editor: It has a raw, immediate quality to it. A red-chalk drawing, isn’t it? The thin, wavering lines almost vibrate against the page. A simple, honest work. Curator: Exactly. Hirt uses red chalk and charcoal to capture the essence of the animal. It’s interesting to note the level of realism present here. You see it in the careful observation of musculature. Editor: And how cows have been symbolic of abundance, patience, maternal power across centuries... Curator: Of course, but let’s think about how he does that. The economical use of line is so striking. Consider the placement of shadow. This strategically rendered volume turns drawing into sculpture, almost. It gives real form to what would otherwise be merely outlined. Editor: The line almost feels tentative. Like the artist is feeling his way around the subject. What do you make of it lacking a background? Curator: It isolates the figure, emphasizing the objective reality and the animal’s corporeal presence. Not a cow grazing in a field, but “cow-ness” itself. And beyond a certain utility, I suppose. Consider too, that red chalk allowed artists a certain sensuality and freedom. Editor: True. A very sanguine choice of medium. Red suggesting earthly matters, a closeness to land and rural economies... and this cow becomes almost an allegorical emblem. A monument, though an humble one. Curator: It’s the tension between that monumentality and the immediacy of the sketch. Editor: Well, in a seemingly simple image, there is an engagement with symbols of domesticity. Not so simple, maybe. Curator: A perfect fusion of technique and symbol, you see.