A standing back view in green chalk — the most formally pure of the green chalk back views in the 12.5 by 19 format. The figure stands in three-quarter back view, the body's contour drawn in a single sustained line from the spiral bun at the crown — described in two or three concentric circular marks — down through the shoulder, the back's slight curve, the waist's narrowing, the hip's expansion, and the legs to the feet. Interior marks are kept to an absolute minimum: a brief shadow at the left arm's inner edge, a small mark at the lower back's depression. The composition is essentially the outer edge of a body and nothing else.
The green chalk is a darker, more olive tone than some of the brighter greens in the portfolio — a considered, quieter green that suits the work's formal restraint. The spiral bun at the crown is the most elaborated element: the concentric circles building the coiled hair mass with a focused specificity that the rest of the contour-only figure does not have. This concentration of marks at the crown draws the eye to the top of the composition and anchors the figure's axis.
Among all the standing back views in the new portfolio — across all media — this is the most minimally described: the outer contour as the sole statement, the interior given over entirely to the white paper. This extreme reduction connects to the collection's deepest impulse in the figure drawings: the idea that the body's outer edge, drawn with sufficient attention and confidence, is sufficient. No shadow, no tonal modeling, no interior anatomy — just the line that separates body from space. At its best this impulse produces works of great formal elegance, and Work 1483 is among the best.