Soliloquy: Vanity of Decision 1949

Curator: Standing before us is "Soliloquy: Vanity of Decision," a print made in 1949 by Benton Spruance. It's quite striking, wouldn’t you say? Editor: Yes, I immediately get a sense of inner turmoil from the downward gaze and restless hands. It feels almost like a still from a film noir, full of quiet anxiety. Curator: That's astute. Spruance, while not a household name now, was deeply engaged with societal anxieties after the war. His prints often wrestle with complex moral and existential themes. Editor: And those hands! They're so expressive. It's fascinating how often hands symbolize agency, or in this case, perhaps its absence, given the "vanity of decision" in the title. Is that a window behind her? Curator: It is. Notice how the storm rages just beyond. In terms of iconography, the sea has long symbolized chaos, the unconscious, things beyond our control. Editor: Right, and it reflects the woman's inner state? It is more turbulent outside, but still it's not exactly clear, in any part of this image, what is going on. Curator: Absolutely. Consider too the tradition of the solitary female figure in art history, from Madonnas to tragic heroines. Here, Spruance taps into that visual language while offering a distinctly modern psychological study. It has an ambiguity which helps give this piece strength. Editor: So much is bottled up in her gaze. This image will linger. Curator: Yes, the piece reminds us that our private internal worlds are frequently as complex and contradictory as the world we see outside our windows.