Madame Gautreau (Madame X) c. 1883

Curator: This sketch by John Singer Sargent, housed here at Harvard, is a study for his infamous "Madame X." Editor: It feels so unfinished, yet conveys an incredible sense of languid, almost performative, detachment. Curator: Precisely! Sargent was exploring archetypes of beauty and societal expectation. Note how the stark lines create a sense of both elegance and unease. Editor: I see a woman constrained by the gaze, the artist's, and perhaps more broadly, the expectations of her time. The sketch invites us to consider the woman’s interiority. Curator: It is also interesting to note that the work carries on a very long tradition of portraits of women that are veiled behind allegory, a common trope to conceal the true identity of the sitter. Editor: Exactly! The sketch serves as a reminder of the constraints placed on women, where identity becomes a performance, shaped by societal demands. Curator: Indeed, and by stripping away some of those layers, Sargent reveals the artifice beneath. Editor: Which invites us to question the very nature of representation and identity.