Biedermeier Fashion 1908

Urban Janke, a young artist who died too soon, made this fashion plate probably not long before he passed. Imagine him at his desk, the scratch of the pen a comforting rhythm as he renders these elegant tiers and ribbons. The act of drawing here is almost like a delicate dance, isn't it? Janke builds the image line by line, stipple by stipple. Look how the black ink defines and contains the pastel shades of mauve and cream. I wonder, was this figure a real person? Or a figment, an ideal? Maybe she embodied the spirit of the age or a collective longing? Or maybe, for Janke, she was just a starting point, a framework for him to improvise on. We all stand on the shoulders of artists, and fashion designers, who have come before us. Janke knew this when he made this artwork. It's like a conversation across time.