Head of a Woman 19th-20th century

Curator: Right, let's delve into this study, Head of a Woman, attributed to Odilon Redon and created sometime between the 19th and 20th centuries. It’s a graphite on paper drawing currently residing here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Editor: Oh, instantly melancholic, wouldn’t you say? Her bowed head, that gentle curve of her neck… she's carrying a weight, a secret perhaps. The drawing feels incredibly intimate, almost as if we're intruding on a private moment. Curator: Precisely. Redon’s portraiture often grapples with inner states, using the sitter to explore broader themes of the human condition. The symbolist movement, to which he was connected, was often in conversation with expressing ideas and emotions rather than a likeness, a representation. Editor: Which makes the very delicate rendering all the more striking, don't you think? He hasn't captured a perfect face, it is this emotion through the soft lines, that suggests she might dissolve at any moment. It gives it this ephemeral quality that gets right under my skin. Curator: The ephemeral is so crucial. It mirrors the fin-de-siecle anxieties around identity and social change that haunted much of Europe, in a historical period of both dramatic transformations and a bit of malaise. Portraits of women during that era carry all sorts of meanings tied to gender roles, visibility, and social expectations. Redon skirts this boundary, making her present, yet lost in her own world. Editor: He lets her be, lets her think, maybe lets her suffer—or maybe dream. It's that ambiguity that's so captivating. You know, I keep looking at her braid; it anchors her. The details remind me of my own sketching practice, there is such tenderness to the gesture. Curator: These smaller, more intimate works offer a revealing glimpse into the artist's working process, an interesting look into the artistic process for those following his creative trajectory. Redon's known for his nocturnes, and here we see the underpinnings of some of those same atmospheric tendencies. Editor: Well, I leave feeling grateful for the glimpse he shared into… her inner life and his. Curator: A subtle yet profound look at fin-de-siecle society through Redon’s hand, no doubt.