Mrs. Francis Howard c. 1916 - 1918

Editor: So, this is Ambrose McEvoy's "Mrs. Francis Howard," painted in oil sometime between 1916 and 1918. It has a dream-like quality to it. A bit wistful, maybe? The way the colors seem to bleed together creates a certain softness, but it makes it hard to grasp. What do you see here? Curator: I see a delicate dance, don't you think? Mrs. Howard appears to float rather than stand, surrounded by dissolving blues. The brushstrokes, oh, they're like whispered secrets, hinting at detail without ever quite revealing all. Almost as if we are glimpsing a memory...Have you noticed how the yellow of her shawl becomes a warm beacon in this ethereal landscape? Editor: Yes, that shawl does grab you. It almost seems to be protecting her. I was trying to see if that tells us something more about who she was... Curator: It's interesting, isn't it, how clothes can both conceal and reveal? During that time, in those portraits, a shawl could speak of social status, but here…it feels more personal. Do you think it shows McEvoy’s desire to catch her likeness as opposed to portraying societal norms? Perhaps he wanted to express his interpretation of a moment? Editor: I think so, she feels so 'caught in time'. Is that 'romantic' maybe? This emotional feel, almost blurry... Curator: "Romantic", yes, but not in a cloying, sentimental way. Instead, it's Romantic like a fading photograph – capturing a longing for beauty. It's impressionistic as well, yes. And you can see that brushstroke boldness in his brushstrokes, confident even in their vagueness. He manages to tell a full story with his deliberate gaps. Editor: I never thought of vagueness as confident! It's like he’s daring us to complete the picture ourselves. I’ll definitely see this painting differently from now on. Curator: That’s the delicious thing about art. It is always speaking. Sometimes, though, we need to tune our ears just right, or to be brave enough to step into the silence of its many “gaps.”