Back View of Standing Woman

Art Historical Context

"Back View of Standing Woman is a delicate red chalk drawing by the 19th-century French artist Alexandre Lalein, created sometime between 1830 and 1871. Measuring 12¼ x 9¼ inches, this intimate study captures the poised silhouette of a female figure behind, now housed in Metropolitan Museum of Art's of Drawings and Prints, to the Van Day True Fund acquisition in 1991. Laemlein's work reflects academic tradition of his era, where artists honed their skills through meticulous life studies in Parisian ateliers. Rendered in sanguine chalk—a favored medium for its warm, flesh-like tones and soft b...