Study of Two Women

Robert Frederick Blum's sketch demonstrates the figure studies that informed illustration practice in the 1880s. Two female figures are rendered in quick gestural lines—one facing left with ink detailing, the other partially colored in blue wash. Such preliminary drawings were foundational to the visual vocabulary developing in American newspapers during this period. Blum, known for both fine art and commercial illustration work, exemplified the crossover between gallery practice and the emerging medium of sequential newspaper illustration that would soon establish the visual conventions of comic art: economical line work, varied rendering techniques, and studies of recurring human forms.