Perspective Drawing of a Woman.

Analyzing a piece of art is like skill that can take many years to perfect, and this being my first assignment to actually attempt to do so was a bit daunting. With no knowledge of who Albrecht Durer was, the time period he lived in, or even what style the art work was conducted in, I’ve decided to follow my intuition in terms of analyzing Durer’s “Perspective Drawing of a Woman,” no matter if it proves right or wrong. First things first, the artwork is a black and white drawing of a man, sitting on the right, sketching a woman who is reclining on some pillows on the left. In between the two figures is a divider that seems to be some sort of transparent window grid system allowing the artist at work to simply scribble down exactly what he sees in each little box onto a piece of parchment, which also is divided into little squares. The artwork presents itself as a straightforward, simple sketch of cartoon-like characters.

The title itself has the word “perspective” in it, suggesting that this is how this technique is accomplished, by simply copying down what the artist sees following a mathematical system. It seems as if Durer is saying that there exists no creativity when it comes to works involving perspective because these representations are exact replicas, or at least strive to be, of reality. However, there are no key depictions of Durer trying to poke fun at or degrade the art of perspective in the drawing; nothing too out of the ordinary, forcing the reader to look deeper at what is being portrayed. The nearly naked woman who serves as the main subject of the artist’s sketch seems to be old and not very attractive compared to the kinds of women chosen for these types of settings—usually, young and sexy. In times when perspective was a dominant form, bodies of men and women were idealized, and perhaps Durer is saying in this picture how perspective can distort reality by showing its audience what is more appealing, what they want to see rather than the actual truth.

After jotting down my first thoughts about what the piece was all about, I did a little research on the life of Durer and the real analysis of the drawing. In turns out, I was completely wrong in that the message of the artwork wasn’t about perspective’s distortion of reality, it was really a statement about the gender roles of that time. Here we see the male being the artist while the woman is merely an object to be painted, specifically her nude body. This sexist innuendo didn’t dawn to me at first perhaps because I come from a society that emphasizes equality among men and women (or at least claims it does) which was totally different to how things were run back in Durer’s time. This instance demonstrates how interpreting art can be somewhat subjective to the viewer's prior knowledge and understanding, which proves that a piece of art is truly in the eye's of the beholder.