Two small girls 1831

Curator: Marie Ellenrieder's 1831 pencil drawing, "Two small girls," captures a seemingly intimate, yet fleeting, moment. It is currently housed here at the Städel Museum. Editor: My first impression is a sense of delicate stillness, almost as if the artist were afraid of breathing too heavily lest the scene dissolve. It’s a study in bareness. What's holding them together, literally and figuratively? Curator: Ellenrieder, unique amongst the Nazarenes for being female, imbues even simple scenes with deep affection and empathy, reflecting the values of early 19th-century Romanticism while engaging in her personal dialogue with faith and femininity. The medium here, just a simple pencil drawing on paper, emphasizes the girls’ unadorned innocence. Editor: But is that all? Innocence feels too easy, here. I’m wondering about access to materials, about the cost of pigments at the time and the way sketching was—still is, arguably—a readily available mode of art production accessible regardless of wealth. And these dresses... their rough textile make-up, possibly linen, are so typical to that era. Curator: Ah, a good reminder to ground us, so to speak. The paper is noticeably textured as well, almost like rough fabric, adding to that materiality you mentioned and influencing the subtlety of her mark-making. It's all whispery. It gives an ethereal feeling. But what do you see in their gesture and proximity? Editor: I notice labor reflected through process: the repetitive mark-making involved in creating shadows, and the visible build-up of those marks shaping their bodies, their stance, as if slowly breathing life into them through repetitive touch and pressure on the pencil itself. There’s a tenderness in that action. Curator: And do you find that the genre, portraiture, can provide the tools for female artists, then and now, to push societal perceptions of womanhood and artistic value, by depicting an actual intimate moment between siblings? Editor: Absolutely, it brings to light how the domestic sphere—considered women’s domain—became fertile ground for observations and challenges regarding traditional hierarchy within the art world. "Two small girls" showcases the subversive potential inherent within humble, everyday subjects. It certainly transcends simple depictions of youthful virtue, even then, don’t you think? Curator: Absolutely. Reflecting on our discussion, it is remarkable to discover how much quiet dialogue resides within such a deceptively simple composition on paper. Editor: I agree, this brief exchange makes me wonder about art's continuing dialogue, not just with its past, but within present structures of material and access, echoing softly with untold implications even now.