Lady with Hat, undated

With sure pencil strokes, the Tyrolean painter and photographer Artur Nikodem (1870–1940) captures in drawing a woman’s face with her hat pulled down deep over her brow. Her earnest, introverted gaze is slightly turned away from us and seems to be looking into the distance. Nikodem shows the head marginally cropped, his pencilwork densifying into vigorous parallel hatching in the shadowed parts. The swift and nimble linework that suggests the frilled collar has a calligraphic quality. With vigorous looping and curving lines, he contours the brim of her hat. The picture aspect appears photographic. The drawing looks like it was done quickly and with skill, like a casual sketch. It shows this internationally noted exponent of interwar Modernism in the Tyrol as a keen observer restlessly searching for new expressions and maximum truthfulness in his artistic work.

MH, 2021