Studies of a Kid or Fawn 1865 - 1910

Curator: Oh, that subdued palette gives off such a tranquil mood. Editor: Indeed. What we have here is "Studies of a Kid or Fawn," a coloured pencil drawing by John Macallan Swan, created sometime between 1865 and 1910. Curator: There’s an ethereal quality, isn't there? That wash of muted color surrounding the almost photographically rendered animal feels like a dream, a memory perhaps? Editor: It’s quite skilled, and notice the choice of coloured pencil on paper. Not exactly high art material, eh? More utilitarian, linking drawing directly to reproductive practices as well. Curator: It makes the drawing accessible. But to see it merely in functional terms is reductive. It’s tenderness, right? The fawn seems vulnerable, maybe even a little lonely in all that blue space. Editor: And there is definitely a class element, it gives some visual weight, the colored pencil offering immediacy compared to something like oils, for instance, widening its circulation. I’m also drawn to the unfinished sketch lingering above the fawn. Curator: A ghost of a thought! I like that the artist chose to leave it visible. Adds another layer of vulnerability; process laid bare, which amplifies that sense of wistfulness the slumbering creature evokes. Editor: Perhaps, or does it expose labor and how images circulate differently because of it, influencing the perceived artistic value? Curator: I think perhaps the "why" comes from inside the artist. He wanted to show us what beauty could be. Editor: Swan was surely thinking of these circulation implications of accessibility. Interesting stuff to mull over. Curator: Makes me want to grab my own pencils! Let’s consider this beautiful tension, between process and pure vision, for a while.