Head of a bearded man, self portrait 1750 - 1822

Editor: This charcoal drawing, "Head of a bearded man, self portrait," dates back to somewhere between 1750 and 1822. The rendering is really striking, the cross-hatching and chiaroscuro almost sculptural. How can we begin to contextualize this piece? Curator: Look at the materiality itself. Charcoal, easily accessible, readily worked. What does its very accessibility tell us about the artist's potential audience? Is this a piece intended for the Church or Royalty, or something else? Editor: It seems a bit more democratic, perhaps, if the artist chose to create with cheaper materials. So what are we seeing when someone works in this material, instead of oils or tempera, which are also prevalent at this time? Curator: Exactly. We see labor. Not just artistic labor, but the echoes of the charcoal maker's labor. Consider also the potential preparatory role of drawing. Is this a finished product or an exercise in planning? Academic art instruction is highly prevalent during the historical context of this work: How is labor presented in academic art instruction? Editor: Interesting! I hadn't considered the training aspect so explicitly. So the piece's narrative qualities would also be, perhaps, training exercises, rather than an expression of narrative? Curator: Precisely. This is likely a teaching exercise. That is to say that the mode of production dictates its accessibility in terms of consumption; we can observe and investigate this further. What can you tell me about the provenance of the charcoal used here? Do we have evidence of the wood types burned? Can we determine where that wood was harvested, to learn more about trade during that time? Editor: So much more than meets the eye. Thanks for bringing it down to Earth for me. Curator: A Materialist reading reminds us that art doesn't spring from nowhere, it emerges from processes and choices that have socioeconomic implications and leave tangible traces, accessible to inquisitive minds.