Journal des Dames et des Modes, Costumes Parisiens, 1914, No. 158 1914

Gerda Wegener made this costume illustration for the Journal des Dames et des Modes in 1914. The approach is all about clean lines. Wegener uses them to define form and fashion, creating a sense of depth with areas of dense and sparse hatching. It's like she's sketching out a whole world with just a few strokes. Looking at the line work, you can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the page. There's a real physicality to the way the lines are laid down. Take the way she renders the skirt, for example. The evenness of the hatching in the striped fabric creates a real sense of volume and movement. This is no accident. The way Wegener uses hatching gives a glimpse into her process, revealing how she builds up form and texture through repetition and variation. Wegener’s work reminds me a bit of that of Erte, although I feel like Wegener's work is more grounded in the materiality of ink and paper. Both artists used their work to capture a fleeting moment in time. Art is all about that conversation, about artists responding to each other across time.