The letter writer, Cairo. 1846 - 1849

Curator: Let’s take a closer look at "The Letter Writer, Cairo", a watercolor completed by David Roberts sometime between 1846 and 1849. What catches your eye first? Editor: Honestly, it feels a bit like a stage set, doesn’t it? The light, the figures arranged just so... There’s a stillness, a posed quality, that's both intriguing and a little distancing. Curator: Roberts was fascinated by the social customs of the Middle East and it's worth examining that in light of his artistic process here. He worked from sketches and observations he made during his travels, but these were then translated into finished watercolors back in his London studio. Editor: That explains it! It's like a memory of a place filtered through a Western lens. The materiality, though, is quite charming; the sheer rendering of the fabric… almost dreamlike. And that hookah to the man’s right...it's got presence. Curator: Exactly! He was drawing on source images produced via lithography as a means of distributing knowledge of cultures and building political opinions concerning the Ottoman Empire, so the image works almost as propaganda in its distribution. The focus on detail would be an attempt to translate that "truth" of a place. Notice how carefully Roberts renders the architectural details, that geometric patterning along the wall? Editor: It feels like more than just documenting architecture. Look at the positioning. The woman is downcast, seemingly awaiting a pronouncement. While the scribe seems rather official, even though he appears soft. I find their positioning... emotionally symbolic, even though this is, in essence, genre painting. Curator: I agree, and if we return to the idea of distribution, consider the very process of letter writing, who controlled literacy? What was the social infrastructure needed to render such a seemingly mundane, quotidian activity, such as letter-writing into art. Editor: Fascinating. I’m suddenly thinking about the countless untold stories these kinds of genre scenes hint at – lives shaped by global networks, recorded in ink and pigment, commodified as image, presented for consumption. What was once an experience became a mediated symbol? It gives me chills, slightly! Curator: Yes, exactly, in this instance we can better evaluate this watercolour and consider that these kind of depictions contributed to how labour and artistic creation can intertwine.