Line etching and drypoint on copperplate paper, Kn 50 II c
While Impressionist artists and their successors turned towards the depiction of contemporary life, nude studies were at that time still determined by traditional studio routine. The professional models were instructed by the teacher to adopt particular poses that were prescribed and elevated by the traditions of academic art. Even the slightly modified canon at private schools – such as the Académie Julian where Käthe Kollwitz had enrolled as a student – still followed this approach around 1900.