Untitled (Seated Female Nude)

Karl Bitter's ink sketch captures a seated figure in a moment of quiet introspection. Working in the academic tradition of life drawing, Bitter employs rapid, assured linework to define form—the cross-hatching of the torso contrasts with the spare rendering of the lower body. The artist's hand is evident in the gestural quality of the line, particularly in the head's placement and the figure's contemplative pose. An Austro-Hungarian sculptor and draftsman working in New York, Bitter practiced drawing from the live model as essential training for monumental public sculpture, the medium for which he gained recognition in America's Gilded Age.