Untitled 1855 - 1868

Editor: So, this is an untitled drawing on paper with ink, pencil and coloured pencil by Georgina Cowper, made between 1855 and 1868. It looks like a page from a personal journal, faded with age and filled with handwritten notes. What strikes me most is its quiet intimacy – almost like stumbling upon someone’s private thoughts. How do you interpret a piece like this? Curator: Ah, yes, that feeling of intrusion is palpable, isn’t it? It reminds me of rifling through someone's attic, unearthing secrets. But it also offers a fragile connection to the past. To me, these fleeting handwritten observations suggest moments of profound contemplation. Notice the way the ink bleeds into the paper, as if the very emotions of the writer were staining the page. I find it quite moving, actually. Do you get a sense of the life unfolding beyond the written word? Editor: I do now! The imperfection of the handwriting, the spontaneity... it makes the past feel so present. Almost as if we are looking over Cowper’s shoulder as they are writing, feeling their moments. Curator: Exactly! The 'immediacy' of it all is gorgeous isn’t it? It really puts you there doesn’t it. Like a ghostly presence watching on from the rafters. Also, knowing that photography and drawing overlapped in that period adds another dimension. It really blurs the boundaries of the personal and the documentative. Editor: I see what you mean. It is interesting that it can contain elements of both observation and historical event. Now, thinking about the themes, and knowing this, I think that Cowper was writing about personal experiences but keeping notes of her life's experience as she moves from space to space. Is that reading of it far off? Curator: I think you’re spot on! Each viewing adds another nuance! So true, so moving! Editor: Absolutely, I didn't really get that intimacy, that ghostly touch initially, but looking closer it reveals so much! Curator: Yes! Isn't art grand!?