Choosing Apples 

Curator: This is "Choosing Apples," an oil painting by Alexei Harlamoff. Notice how Harlamoff captures a seemingly simple, intimate moment. Editor: It immediately strikes me as very domestic, a very controlled and contained space. The palette feels soft and muted, yet there’s something quietly watchful in the older girl’s gaze. Almost…wary? Curator: Harlamoff was part of a larger movement that saw increased art production aimed at wider audiences. It’s important to remember how rapidly the art market was changing at the time. Editor: Yes, and the work offers insight into the roles girls and women played during the period, primarily within the domestic space. There is a powerful commentary here about women's contribution to society during times of change. Even if the intent of the image was to celebrate and honor womanhood, what we now define as gender biases becomes readily available in the act of observing and questioning. The fact that girls are present emphasizes the idea of innocence and purity. How the girls hold the apples adds another layer. Curator: Apples can certainly carry a lot of weight. You know, thinking about who his paintings appealed to and *why* says a lot about the values that were being celebrated. He gained immense popularity with depictions of peasant children, frequently girls like these. Editor: Precisely. And those choices reflect societal biases in access to opportunity at the time, the kinds of sentimentalized visions of childhood that become popular and sell. Look at their clothing—it tells a story of its own. Curator: Absolutely, we cannot extract art and paintings from social history and conditions. Editor: It reminds us how even seemingly innocent depictions of children, rendered with obvious skill, are ultimately embedded in the power structures of their time. The history of its making, of course, cannot exist separately from this art piece and its historical influences. Curator: True enough. A lot to unpack there! It gives a lot of information about the historical moment as well as it relates to present-day experiences, feelings, or situations.