Seated and Standing Male Nudes, after photographs by Eugène Durieu

Description

A seated nude man raises a hand at the left of Eugène Delacroix’s graphite sheet, while a standing figure at the right holds an arm near the waist. The contrasting poses come from photographs by Eugène Durieu. Their lightly drawn forms offer different ways to consider the body, joining a photographic source to a new act of attention on paper.

Made in 1855, the drawing uses graphite. Delacroix is the draughtsman, while Durieu supplied the photographic images after which he worked. The relationship gives the studies another interest beyond their individual figures, showing one visual medium becoming material for another. The work’s appeal lies in that attentive translation, where bodies fixed in photographs can be reconsidered through the movement of a drawing hand and the choices made on paper.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Eugène Delacroix collection.