Woman on a rise 

Curator: Up next, let's explore a drawing by Philipp Rumpf, titled "Woman on a rise." It's a pencil sketch, full of light and airy lines. Editor: My initial impression? A breath of fresh air, visually. There's a solitude to the woman and a simplicity to the scene that feels deeply calming. The sketchiness only enhances the feeling of a fleeting moment captured. Curator: Absolutely, there's something immediate about the scene. Looking closer, one wonders, who is she, and what does she represent? The "rise" suggests potential progress. Perhaps an act of defying patriarchal constraints typical for the represented timeframe? Editor: Precisely. We could examine this in the context of women's limited access to landscape art as artists, rather than as subjects. How women are depicted within broader narratives, typically devoid of any personal stories. Considering it’s a pencil sketch and given its medium is drawing, maybe the sketch embodies a silent revolt, a nascent reclamation of space, still needing further refinement. Curator: I find myself connecting to the delicate nature of pencil lines. This feels as soft and as deep as a daydream to me. I am wondering what personal reflections the artist experienced during their creative process. Maybe Rumpf also captured not just what's outside but the quiet inside as well. Editor: Yes, the unfinished quality invites that interiority. It doesn't dictate a single reading but offers space for our own interpretations. Even something about the very visible lines, strokes and scribbles is refreshing. I suppose you could almost look at them as traces and markers of a lived experience? The way those lines sort of trail off, only adding to the drawing's mystery. Curator: Thinking about the rise again—isn’t life just a continuous series of rises? With soft pencil marks capturing an eternal ascent… Editor: Which resonates even now! Looking at this artwork through the lenses of gender and empowerment truly opens the possibilities of dialogue with the observer. Curator: Beautiful, and just like that, we each see ourselves, on the verge, full of possibility and perhaps our very own sketchbook to trail away into.