Stehendes Mädchen mit Stock 

Editor: This is Otto Scholderer’s pencil drawing on paper, "Stehendes Mädchen mit Stock," or "Standing Girl with Stick," housed at the Städel Museum. I’m struck by the hand, sketched separately above the girl, almost like a hovering spirit. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I’m drawn to the stick itself. It acts as a sort of axis, doesn't it? Consider the symbolism of verticality. A stick, or staff, can represent authority, guidance, even pilgrimage. Is the girl, on the cusp of adulthood, clinging to a symbol of childhood protection or reaching for something more? What emotional weight does such an emblem carry? Editor: I hadn't considered that. I focused more on her dress and posture, which felt like typical genre painting. Does that hand have any specific resonance? It feels incomplete, floating there. Curator: Precisely! Consider hands in art history: creation, benediction, action. Here, the hand, separated and incomplete, could represent a fractured aspect of herself, a desire for intervention, perhaps even artistic creation. Notice the subtle pressure the girl applies to the stick. It mirrors the hand; both incomplete, in different ways, but tethered. Does the girl actively will it to move, to act on her desires, hopes and aspirations? Editor: That makes the drawing much more psychologically complex. The seemingly simple image of a girl with a stick now feels loaded with potential narratives about growing up. Curator: Indeed. Scholderer captures that liminal space, that in-betweenness through layered, archetypal imagery. There's a story in every line, isn't there? A story of cultural memory. Editor: Definitely food for thought! Thanks for helping me see this in a new light. Curator: My pleasure. I'm walking away feeling the image resonate much deeper with what I do today.