Figure Subject

Figure Subject is a print that showcases a nude woman looking off as she rests her arms and stands on a windy brick ground, barefoot. Wiltz plays with perspective by not having the road directly lead to the background--he even has the supposed ground blend in with a bridge. The woman’s body is split into muscle-group areas, creating distinct differences in different parts of her body. She is leaning on what looks like a wood structure, like a table, until you look closer and realize that it is stacked steel beams with a birdcage-like structure in front of it, creating the illusion. The print is composed in black and white, which seems to highlight the mundanity that is juxtaposed with the nude woman in a public space--which isn’t quite a real spot--and evokes how mass industrialization must felt. Public spaces were becoming unrecognizable.

Wiltz, Arnold (1889 - 1937)

Loucks, Paige (description)

Helquist, Morgan (photography)

New Deal Museum, Mount Morris NY

Object #FA 1581

jpeg, 2 MB
jpeg, 803 KB

Wood engraving on paper

5.5 x 7 in.