Auguste Rodin, French, b. Paris, - Two Figures - (n.d.) - T-Shirt

Two standing figures, seen from behind, raise their arms to the head in a pair of quick graphite studies washed with warm flesh tones.

Visual Elements & Composition

The sheet divides into two side-by-side figures on a pale parchment ground. The figure at left is turned slightly and fills most of the upper sheet, its pencil lines sweeping across the shoulders and torso while loose drapery gathers in the hands. The figure at right is cropped at the top edge and wears a short grey-green garment at the hips, drawn with fewer, more confident strokes. Soft layers of flesh peach dominate the composition, with warm brown accents in the hair and along the shadowed sides of the limbs.

Meaning & Symbolism

The repeated pose is the subject. Both figures lift their arms behind the head, so the sheet reads as a study of one action seen from two angles and in two states of dress. Raised-arm poses were a standard part of academic figure practice, where a draughtsman worked out how the torso, shoulders and limbs turn and balance. The sheet is attributed to Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), the French sculptor whose figures in clay, plaster and bronze shaped modern figurative sculpture. Rodin filled many sketchbooks with studies like this, testing poses in pencil and wash before translating them into three dimensions. The drawing records a working process rather than a finished scene, and its interest lies in the movement of the bodies and the economy of the line.

Wearing the Figures

A tee is worn on the body and turned through the day, so the composition works from both directions. The front shows the figures from behind, as they stand in the drawing, and anyone looking at the wearer sees the same turned backs and lifted arms. The raised arms sit across the chest and shoulders, where the movement of the pose follows the wearer's own lines.