Head of a Woman, Full Face 

Editor: This is Samuel Laurence's "Head of a Woman, Full Face," undated, residing at the Tate. It has an intimate, almost unfinished quality. What do you see in this piece? Curator: This drawing begs us to consider the position of women in 19th-century art and society. Note the gaze: averted, suggesting perhaps a societal constraint. How might the artist’s choices reflect or challenge the limited roles available to women at the time? Editor: That's interesting, I hadn't thought about the gaze as a form of social commentary. Curator: Exactly! And consider the incomplete nature of the sketch. Does it symbolize the unfinished business of gender equality, even today? Editor: I'll definitely look at portraiture differently now. Curator: Art invites us to question, doesn't it?