Head of a Youth Turned to the Left 18th-19th century

Curator: Augustin Pajou created "Head of a Youth Turned to the Left," now residing at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It's a strikingly serene image. The soft washes give it a dreamy, almost melancholic quality. Curator: Pajou, a notable sculptor of his time, likely produced this drawing as a preparatory study. The inscription suggests it’s copied from an antique source. Editor: Yes, the classical features are undeniable. It makes me consider how the "antique" gets deployed throughout history to naturalize ideals of beauty and masculinity. Curator: Absolutely. Pajou was working within a system that highly valued classical aesthetics, perpetuating specific notions of beauty and form through institutions like the Académie Royale. Editor: And how that ideal often erases other forms and expressions. But even within those constraints, there is tenderness in the rendering of the youthful face. Curator: It certainly invites reflection on the enduring power, and the historical weight, of classical ideals in Western art. Editor: I'll carry with me the dialogue between what is present, what is absent, and what could be.