A full-length standing figure in red chalk, shown entirely from behind, both hands placed on the hips with the fingers spread — a posture of self-possession or impatience, the body asserting its own presence. The back occupies the center of the composition, the spine clean, the shoulders set. The hair falls loose from the crown in several strands, not gathered, framing the neck.
The hands are the composition's emotional center. Both placed at the hips, the fingers individually described, the knuckles indicated — these are hands that have landed with purpose. In the back-view tradition of the collection, the hands are usually invisible or barely suggested. Here they are the defining gesture, the whole posture organized around them.
The legs below extend to the floor with the characteristic Cothran attention: the feet drawn with toe specificity even at the bottom of a full-length standing composition, one foot slightly forward, the weight distributed. The red chalk gives the whole figure its warm sanguine tone, the marks sparing but sufficient.
The back-view standing figure with hands on hips is an unusual configuration in the collection — it carries a social and psychological charge that the more passive poses do not. The figure is not resting or turning away; it is standing its ground.