Running man holding an assegai in his right hand and four assegais in his left 1776 - 1795

Editor: This is "Running man holding an assegai in his right hand and four assegais in his left," a watercolor and ink drawing made between 1776 and 1795 by Robert Jacob Gordon. It feels both precise and a bit romantic, almost like a scene from a play. I'm curious, what draws your eye most when you look at this work? Curator: What draws my eye? Hmm… perhaps the ghostliness of that flowing cloak, almost as if the man's presence is both there and not. It's intriguing, isn't it? Makes you wonder about the relationship Gordon had with his subject – was it an attempt to capture, to document, or something… deeper? I wonder, does that 'ghostliness' affect how you view the figure, perhaps making him seem less grounded, more symbolic? Editor: I think it does. It gives him a kind of ethereal quality, like he's moving between worlds. Was this "ghostliness," as you call it, a common style at the time or a conscious decision on Gordon's part, maybe hinting at a European perspective of otherness? Curator: Now, that's the million-dollar question! Given the period, it's tricky to separate artistic intent from colonial influence. There's a delicacy to the portrayal, yet the subject is posed actively. Could Gordon have been trying to capture an "authentic" moment while still grappling with his own cultural biases? He walks a tightrope, attempting a semblance of scientific observation and perhaps romanticizing his vision… almost as if caught between the visible and the imagined, or the present and an anticipated future. It certainly feels that the image leaves us with more questions than answers. Don't you think? Editor: Definitely. I didn't consider the complexity of his position. It makes me look at it in a completely new way. Curator: Excellent! And isn't that the delicious beauty of art? The unending layers of interpretation. Always more to chew on.