Strut

Strut
From the Lost Drawings Series by Peter Bogdanov
Graphite and charcoal on vellum stock
Bold. Crooked. Confident. “Strut” is Peter Bogdanov’s early declaration that figure drawing doesn’t have to sit still. Created during his art school years on vellum stock using graphite and charcoal, this piece breaks from the quiet introspection of his other student works and marches, unapologetically, into the room.
The figure is mid-stride—hips forward, shoulders tilted, one leg practically slicing through the page. There’s swagger here, but also exaggeration. The anatomical distortions feel intentional, as if the body itself is being stretched by attitude. This isn’t a study in realism—it’s a character sketch of a mood. A moment. A defiance.
Charcoal adds depth and abrasion, dragging the viewer’s eye through shadow and muscle, while the transparent vellum beneath gives the piece a sense of movement, like it might shift again if you blink. It’s the kind of drawing that feels as if it was done in one long, fearless breath.
Originally part of Bogdanov’s personal archive, “Strut” was among the hundreds of early works destroyed in the double hurricane that struck his Florida home in 2024. The only survivor: a digital scan backed up just weeks before the disaster. Now reissued as a museum-quality print, the piece carries more than just aesthetic weight—it struts forward from the ashes.
To collect “Strut” is to embrace the audacity of survival, the motion of becoming, and the attitude of an artist who knew—even in his earliest years—how to make a figure walk off the page.