An Arab on Horseback Attacked by a Lion 1849

Curator: Oh, my! What a flurry of energy. At first glance, it's a bit overwhelming but in a very exciting way. Editor: This is a drawing by Eugène Delacroix, "An Arab on Horseback Attacked by a Lion." It's located at the Harvard Art Museums and renders the ferocity of this violent encounter in pencil on paper. Curator: It feels like a dream, almost, this dance of man and beast. Delacroix really captures the frantic energy, doesn't he? So evocative. Editor: Absolutely. And if you consider Delacroix's Romantic fascination with the "Orient," we can see how the drawing both exoticizes and aestheticizes a colonial fantasy. The materials are modest, but the subject is grand. Curator: Well, grand and primal. It speaks to something deep within us. A struggle for survival, maybe? Editor: Or the struggle for representation. The paper is not just paper but a site where these power dynamics play out materially. Curator: You always bring it back to earth, don't you? I like that. Editor: Someone has to consider the real work involved in even a seemingly fleeting sketch.