Hoofd van een vrouw 1865 - 1922

Suze Robertson made this drawing, "Head of a Woman", with chalk on paper. In the late 19th century, artists in the Netherlands were increasingly drawn to the lives of ordinary people. This head of a woman, quickly sketched, speaks to that interest. Robertson was committed to showing the dignity of laborers and their families. Consider the institutional context. Robertson would have been trained within a male-dominated art world; this helps us to understand her commitment to representing women and challenging academic norms around genre painting. The drawing's seeming informality reflects an interest in the social realities of the time. What does it mean to elevate an ordinary woman to the level of a subject for art? What is the public role of this kind of art? Looking at exhibition records, personal letters, and critical reviews of the period helps to illuminate the social conditions that shape artistic production and give us a richer sense of the image's meaning.