Nile, 1904 (from Sketchbook) 1904

Editor: This pencil drawing, "Nile, 1904 (from Sketchbook)" by Mary Newbold Sargent, seems like a very straightforward landscape study. It feels almost like a snapshot, very immediate and documentary. What jumps out at you when you look at this piece? Curator: Well, I’m drawn to the specific materiality. Graphite, of course, extracted from the earth, processed, and then applied to paper, likely wood pulp—another manipulation of natural resources. The image itself depicts the Nile, a vital waterway, a source of life, power, and also a site of labor, as indicated by the boats. Think about what the production and transport of these materials meant in 1904. What kind of labor went into making both the image, and the Nile's industry? Editor: So you're focusing on the raw materials themselves? That makes me wonder about the sketchbook as an object, and its relationship to art making. Curator: Precisely. The sketchbook becomes a site of artistic labor, not just inspiration. It’s where Sargent, through her specific material choices, interacts with a global landscape of material extraction, production, and consumption. Was the paper locally sourced, or imported? What implications does that have on her representation of the Nile itself? Editor: That's a perspective I hadn't considered. I usually just see a sketch as, well, a sketch. It's interesting to consider the economic and environmental impact through the drawing materials. I now look at it quite differently, considering its creation not just as an artistic process, but as a result of human exploitation and the transformation of materials. Curator: Exactly. And that forces us to challenge the separation we often make between fine art and the "dirty" realities of labor and materiality.