Porträt 

Curator: Take a moment to consider this striking drawing entitled "Porträt" by Karl Wiener. What’s your first take on it? Editor: My immediate impression is one of calculated severity. It's angular and precise, but somehow vulnerable because of its graphic simplicity. It's just lines on paper, so raw. Curator: It is fascinating how much information he can convey with so little. He has successfully delivered on his task with his unique graphic method. Editor: Right! I would focus on the implications of choosing this very economical method in Weimar Germany, which produced several different forms of geometric representation. What was his class status? This sketch's appearance belies the material conditions that made art-making feasible in those contexts. Was he trying to appeal to a broader market? Curator: Well, portraits generally denote status and power; although it's abstract, we must also consider what type of power the drawing is referencing, how such displays affect power dynamics, and its overall cultural and economic relevance. Also, do the lines mimic an architectural drawing in process? Editor: Exactly! Perhaps this drawing, seemingly simple, comments on industrial progress and how it changed labor or traditional artistic practices in its graphic composition and the choice to do so much with so little by Wiener? Also, the geometric treatment of his subject gives it this distinctly modern edge while being made using classic portrait conventions, as you stated. Curator: Yes, that interplay between abstraction and portraiture provides rich material for thought about social mobility! This dialogue, I think, encourages our audience to reconsider traditional notions regarding power dynamics in the creation of art. Editor: Agreed. And it goes to demonstrate that sometimes, what appears to be a plain sketch can lead to deeper discussions concerning the intricate material circumstances surrounding artistic output.