The Sevres Vase 

Curator: This painting, entitled "The Sevres Vase," comes to us from the hand of James Jebusa Shannon. What's catching your eye? Editor: All that dim light just pools on her skin. It feels so immediate and close, like catching someone in a private moment of quiet luxury. Curator: Intimism, definitely. Shannon creates this gorgeous stage with everyday objects: that vase, of course, is the centerpiece with grapes tumbling from it. Though is it just me or is it a little distracting from the young woman herself? Editor: I think it tells us more about the scene; who owns such things, who cleans them. And look how they're painted—oil paint rendering all those smooth surfaces...the sheer labour. Curator: Yes, you're right about the labor involved; look at how the dress itself drapes. Such luxuriousness. And yet there's a casualness too. She's not posed as a noble subject might have been once upon a time, not at all! It’s more akin to, say, a Whistler nocturne, but warmer, human... Editor: Mmm, perhaps there's a story there that intrigues. And yet… the vase still nags at me; mass produced luxury attempting to create a specific sort of aura around this girl. Curator: She certainly has an interesting ambivalence to the scene: is she about to snack or meticulously clean the fruit? It's that quiet pause that speaks volumes to me, even across decades. Editor: I love seeing the labor that went into its creation. Each brushstroke telling us something about production as well as artistic expression. Thanks, I saw this piece anew. Curator: Agreed. Shannon created not just a visual experience, but a tangible whisper of the past. Now what shall we examine next, I wonder.