Exterior of Busch-Reisinger Museum 1970

Editor: So, this is Barbara Westman's "Exterior of Busch-Reisinger Museum." It's a charming little drawing. What strikes me is how it feels both whimsical and a bit haunting, like a fairy tale gone slightly askew. What do you see in it? Curator: It reminds me of a stage set, doesn't it? The bare trees, the almost cartoonish stars...Westman seems to be inviting us into a dreamscape. The building itself, usually so grounded, feels strangely weightless here. Are we looking at reality, or a memory, perhaps? Editor: I hadn’t thought about it as a stage set, but now that you mention it, I totally see it. The lighting, the starkness. Curator: Exactly! And maybe that's the key, isn't it? To see the familiar anew, to find the magic, or the melancholy, in the everyday. It's certainly made me rethink my own perception of the building. Editor: Me too! I'll definitely look at the museum differently now.