Sketches and drawings related to ‘Der Soldat in der deutschen Vergangenheit’, by George Liebe 1915

Here's a drawing related to ‘Der Soldat in der deutschen Vergangenheit’ or ‘The Soldier in the German Past,’ by Winold Reiss, made sometime in the first half of the twentieth century. It’s a graphite drawing of a group of people in motion, maybe soldiers, maybe laborers, all caught mid-action. I love sketches. You see the artist thinking through the subject, the feeling of improvisation. I'm imagining Reiss, maybe in his studio, surrounded by books, newspapers, maybe listening to the radio, and just compulsively drawing, trying to work out what this painting should look like. The lines are loose and angular, and the figures are constructed with this patchwork of lines. I can feel the energy in these marks, the artist searching for the right pose, the right expression. It reminds me a bit of other artists who were working at the time, like Grosz or Beckmann, who were also grappling with the trauma of war and the changing face of Germany. It's all part of this big conversation that artists have been having for centuries!