Standing Female Figure (Polly Barnard?) 1889

Editor: Here we have John Singer Sargent's pencil sketch, "Standing Female Figure (Polly Barnard?)," housed at the Harvard Art Museums. I find it incredibly delicate and full of introspection. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's like a fleeting thought captured on paper, isn't it? Sargent’s lines, so economical, suggest a mood more than a literal representation. The figure leaning, almost dissolving into the background… She's either weary or lost in thought, wouldn't you agree? Perhaps both? Editor: Absolutely. I hadn't considered that duality. It's amazing how much emotion he conveys with so few lines! Curator: Precisely! It prompts us to fill in the blanks, to project our own feelings onto her. A truly evocative sketch. Editor: I'll definitely look at Sargent's sketches differently now. Curator: Wonderful. Art's all about changing how we see.