Character study 1906

Ferdinand Hodler made this ‘Character Study’ in 1906, with pencil on paper. The first thing that strikes me is the contour of this male figure. I can see Hodler, pencil in hand, deciding how to describe the difference between a shoulder and an arm, mapping out the geography of this body. Look at how the lines seem to both describe and invent the figure as they move around it. I wonder about Hodler’s process. Was he working from life? Was the model posing? The hands are so interesting, almost as though they're floating in front of the chest. To me, they suggest both protection and vulnerability. Hodler, like many artists, was interested in how the formal elements of painting - line, form, and composition - could express emotion and meaning. This drawing reminds us that artists are always looking, learning, and in conversation with each other, building on the ideas and experiments of those who came before.