Study of a Female Dancer

This expressive study captures a moment of physical and psychological release. The dancer leans back, head turned to the sky, and allows her weight to be supported by her unseen partner—a presence indicated only by the hand that grasps the woman’s right wrist. Greiner dedicated much of the sheet to the rendering of the dancer’s head: the contours of her profile, her closed eyes, her peaceful expression, and the light washing over her face. In the rough sketch at bottom, possibly a design for a calling card (complete with a street address), the artist drew the same figure again, this time with somewhat greater indication of her dance partner.

The drawing reflects the emergence in the early twentieth century of both modern dance and expressionism in the visual arts, each of which sought new ways to convey intense emotion and psychological interiority.