Siddende nøgen model, vendt mod højre 1940 - 1944

Vilhelm Lundstrom made this drawing of a seated nude model with graphite on paper. It's cool how Lundstrom uses line in a reductive, abstract way. I imagine him, charcoal in hand, circling the form, feeling his way into the drawing, trying to get to the essence of a seated nude. The lines are tentative, searching, almost like he's mapping out the figure, not trying to represent but to feel. They are not quite linear. The composition feels open, not hemmed in. Is he referencing the modernist treatment of the figure? The female nude has, of course, been a trope in painting forever. The great thing about drawing, as opposed to painting, is how immediate and intimate it is. I wonder if the work of other artists influenced Lundstrom. I think of Matisse and his fluid line drawings, or Picasso. Anyway, looking at drawings like this reminds us that art making is often a conversation, artists always riffing off one another.