Der Hund des Mondes, laufend und mit hängendem Kopf, nach links c. 1867 - 1868

Paul Konewka made this pencil drawing, titled "The Dog of the Moon, Running and with Hanging Head, to the Left," sometime in the mid-19th century in Germany. Konewka was a celebrated silhouette artist, and this sketch likely served as a study for a finished silhouette. During the 19th century, silhouettes were a popular and accessible art form. They were inexpensive to produce and allowed middle-class families to participate in the art world. The rising middle class increasingly had more leisure time and disposable income, spurring a growth of interest in artistic activities, and the silhouettes produced by Konewka would have been highly prized in this context. As an art historian, I’d examine printed reproductions of silhouettes in periodicals from this time. These images, in their ubiquity, tell us about the period’s aesthetic values and the democratizing function of art in society.