The Dancer Anita Berber 1919

Editor: This is Charlotte Berend-Corinth's "The Dancer Anita Berber," a drawing at the Harvard Art Museums. It has such a raw, unsettling energy. What do you make of it? Curator: Think about Weimar Germany. Berber, a scandalous figure, embodies the era’s anxieties and freedoms. Berend-Corinth captures her defiance, yet also the vulnerability made visible by the social gaze. How do you see this playing out in the composition? Editor: I see how it uses her body to convey the conflicting themes. Thanks, I didn't consider that before. Curator: Exactly! Consider then how societal pressures affect the artistic representation of marginalized individuals.