Infant's Dress (Back View) c. 1938

Curator: At first glance, I see a haunting sketch. There's an empty dress drawn delicately in pencil—it's simultaneously charming and spectral. Editor: Indeed. This work by Lucien Verbeke, created around 1938, is entitled "Infant’s Dress (Back View)." It's interesting, isn’t it, to consider fashion as a coded system within the political history of that time? Clothing choices often served as visible statements. Curator: Absolutely. Especially given that this image focuses on the back of the dress, and lacks the presence of the infant, making me think about the representation of children's bodies—or lack thereof—and what social commentaries the artist makes, or does not make. Does the fact that we're only seeing it from the back suggest something about obscured identity or even childhood exploitation, the ways children's labor has been systemically erased? Editor: That's compelling. Looking at the date, the late 1930s, pre-war Europe, there could also be an interpretation centered around economic precarity. Was this an aspirational image? Or perhaps a rendering of a dress that was once a precious luxury now relegated to memory? These institutions would, after all, dictate how art would get used and seen. Curator: That resonates, especially thinking about academic art and its patrons. I am looking closely at how Verbeke captures the texture. The ruffles, the pleats—there is such a keen sense of material. It reminds me of portraiture of the era and its own concerns with class and wealth. Editor: It speaks to how art schools approached skill, even in the mundane. Even in fashion sketch, there is such skill embedded in this drawing. I suppose we can assume this was preparatory drawing to work towards something else in the career. I am unsure that Verbeke anticipated this drawing to garner our discussion now. Curator: Yet here we are. The piece, however small, provides such a window into the social and economic conditions, or perhaps longings, of the time. Editor: Agreed. "Infant's Dress (Back View)" ultimately serves as a small lens for broader, more intricate issues in the context of Europe between the wars, as viewed by an early academician.