Gulja Chinese 

Vasily Vereshchagin made this drawing of a Chinese man, likely in the late 19th century, using ink on paper. Notice the contrast between the white paper and the varying densities of the black ink marks. These create the light and shadow that give the portrait depth. The artist uses hatching and cross-hatching to build up darker tones, a traditional technique for creating volume in a two-dimensional medium. The lines are economical but carefully placed, capturing details of the man's features and clothing. Consider the social context: Vereshchagin was a Russian artist known for his war paintings and depictions of foreign cultures. This drawing likely comes from his travels. The work is dependent on access to paper and ink, and to the artistic tradition of portraiture. The drawing's social significance lies in its depiction of a man from a culture that was, at the time, distant from the artist's. The drawing process itself, with its emphasis on hand skill and close observation, underscores the importance of both material and context in understanding the image.