Male Nude Model 1912

Wilhelm Lehmbruck made this nude drawing with graphite on paper. You can really feel the searching lines here, which to me, is the work! See how the artist returns to the form, going over and over, with the legs being more defined? It’s like the rest of the body hasn’t quite arrived yet, still in the realm of ideas. The lines are delicate, almost tentative. The form wavers between presence and absence, substance and void. Look at the underbelly – the artist has used soft, smudged lines, which gives it a real sense of volume. The head seems to fade into the background, and the arms disappear behind the back. The more you look at this drawing, the more dreamlike and unresolved it seems, a little like some of Rodin’s drawings. It’s about the unfolding process of seeing.