Standing female model turned to the left 1906 - 1909

Albert Marquet made this drawing of a standing female model with ink on paper. It’s a study, really, the kind of thing you do to figure out how a body occupies space, how light falls. The lines are so economical. Look how he defines her form with these quick, decisive strokes. There’s a confident fluidity to the whole thing. It’s all about the process, the act of seeing and translating that onto paper. I like how he uses hatching, those little parallel lines on her leg, to suggest shadow and volume. It’s almost like he’s sculpting with ink, figuring out where the planes shift and turn. Marquet reminds me of someone like Fairfield Porter, in that they both share this interest in the everyday, in finding beauty in simple, unassuming subjects. And like Porter, Marquet isn’t afraid to leave things unresolved, to embrace the sketchiness of it all. It’s a refreshing reminder that art doesn’t always have to be polished or perfect. Sometimes, the most interesting things happen in the process.