Red Riding Hood: The Hunter Slays the Wolf c. 19th century

Curator: Edward Martin Taber gives us this pencil drawing, "Red Riding Hood: The Hunter Slays the Wolf," residing here at Harvard. Editor: My first thought? A quiet, almost hesitant heroism captured in spare strokes. It’s a ghost story still in progress, isn’t it? Curator: Absolutely. Notice how Taber uses line weight to emphasize the hunter, while Red is ethereally faint. The wolf is almost an afterthought, a collapsed heap of fur and shadow. Editor: The diagonal of the hunter’s staff against Red’s vertical posture, so much tension. It's like he’s propping her up, and her hands, such delicate shields over her ears… Curator: Yes, it’s as if the sound of the slaying still echoes. The image feels incomplete, a story suspended mid-breath. Editor: It makes you wonder, what happens after the pencil lifts? It makes the story so fragile, doesn’t it?