In Grecian Draperies c. 1913

Curator: There's a certain melancholy to this piece. It's Vonnoh's "In Grecian Draperies," cast in bronze around 1913. She seems so lost in thought, doesn't she? Editor: Yes, that downwards gaze gives her a contemplative air, almost sorrowful. The draping fabric and the way she holds it seem significant too. Curator: The classical drapery is a powerful visual cue. It directly recalls the artistic vocabulary of ancient Greece, a period viewed, from the Renaissance onwards, as a golden age. Editor: So, the artist invokes cultural memory by associating her subject with this past ideal of beauty, balance and truth? The material feels alive, yet also conveys weight—literal and figurative. Curator: Precisely. Look closer; the drapery almost obscures her form, making her simultaneously present and elusive, physical yet spectral. Editor: I suppose this "in betweenness" also suggests a turn towards neoclassicism; you also see it with Canova and Thorvaldsen—though those pieces seem less sentimental and more celebratory. Curator: That's an astute point. Vonnoh, despite adopting a visual vocabulary which emphasizes idealism and serenity, introduces an emotional interiority not typically seen within neoclassical art. Editor: It’s such an interesting blend of idealized form and tangible emotion. Perhaps this explains her enduring appeal: beauty presented, yes, but filtered through experience. Curator: Ultimately, Vonnoh uses classicism to make the familiar monumental. She makes palpable the sense of introspection, bringing that which is immaterial into material being through powerful symbolic language. Editor: That emotionality elevates this sculpture. We get something much more complex than just an idealized portrait. Thank you for your reading! Curator: You are most welcome; I am glad to have had a chance to explore it with you today.