Female portrait 

Curator: Here we have "Female portrait," an undated ink drawing by Jules Lunteschütz in the collection of the Städel Museum. Editor: Oof, it's like she's a ghost just barely hanging on to existence. A wisp of a woman, caught in a moment of melancholy. I can almost feel the paper sighing beneath the ink. Curator: That's interesting. I find that it evokes questions about the representation of women in art history, often viewed through a male gaze. This drawing, however, offers a potentially unfiltered, perhaps even vulnerable portrayal of female identity. It challenges us to consider the subject's agency, and what she might represent, both individually and as part of a broader narrative of gender and representation. Editor: Agency? Maybe. But to me, it's more about the fragility. Look at how the lines are barely there, like she could fade away at any second. It's haunting, almost like she is fading away or like we're looking at a repressed emotion coming to the surface on the page. I'm even seeing something akin to shame there! Curator: I understand. It does capture a certain… impermanence. However, think of it within a social context. The artist, by focusing on her humanity, subtly critiques the historical tendency to idealize or objectify women in art. By leaving so much unsaid, and undone, this allows her interiority, that fragility you observed, to emerge with even greater force. The gaze, for example. Whose is it? Is it penetrating? Or, instead, internalised and melancholic? Editor: Maybe both! You can hold all of the feelings at once! I mean, looking at those unfinished lines around her shoulders and neck gives me a shiver of imperfection. We should own those feelings... It almost seems like, a confession. Maybe a cry for understanding too... Curator: Well, one cannot truly claim there is a full image; instead, an interpretation or suggestion exists. What do you do when facing a lack of information and representation? Editor: Hmm, I never looked at it from that side! And perhaps now there's nothing more to be added! This feels like a sketch asking the bigger questions about identity without giving answers. Curator: Indeed. And it encourages viewers to ask those very questions themselves.