Standing Figure

Walter Shirlaw's charcoal study depicts a draped female figure in classical contrapposto stance. The artist employs gestural line work and tonal shading to suggest volume and fabric weight, with particular attention to the play of light across the torso and legs. A delicate botanical sketch in the upper right corner suggests this may be a studio sheet combining figure study with observational notation. Shirlaw, a Scottish-born painter who studied in Munich and worked extensively in New York, was known for academic figure drawing and his role teaching at the Art Students League, where such studies formed the foundation of professional artistic training in the late nineteenth century.