Study for Standing Statue of Peter Cooper (1791 - 1883) 1866

Curator: This is William Rimmer's Study for Standing Statue of Peter Cooper, a pencil sketch housed right here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It has a ghostly, fleeting quality, like a memory half-formed. The starkness almost gives it the quality of loneliness, don't you think? Curator: Precisely! Rimmer, a fascinating fellow, was deeply interested in anatomy; you can see it in the delicate precision of the figure's posture, despite its unfinished nature. Editor: And the isolated hand on the right? It's like a fragment, a forgotten detail waiting to be placed. It destabilizes the whole image! Curator: The hand is a key detail, foreshadowing the statue's eventual form. It's a study, after all—Rimmer's way of teasing out the essence of Cooper's character and presence. Editor: It leaves me wondering about the final statue. This sketch holds such fragility, I can't help but feel the weight of transformation from sketch to statue. Curator: It's a beautiful demonstration of the artistic process, really. Editor: Absolutely. A reminder that even the most monumental works begin with a single, tentative line.