Reproductie van een tekening van een zittend naakt 1910

Curator: This pencil drawing, made around 1910, is titled "Reproductie van een tekening van een zittend naakt." It's currently held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, and it's attributed to Alfred Stieglitz. Editor: It's remarkably raw, almost hesitant. There's an emotional vulnerability conveyed through those loose, searching pencil lines. The figure seems caught in a private moment of contemplation. Curator: Stieglitz was working during a fascinating period where modernist and symbolist aesthetics intersected. This piece embodies the shifting attitudes towards the representation of the female nude, challenging traditional power dynamics in art. One has to think of the socio-political dimensions and visibility of the female form in relation to a shifting public space for women. Editor: I see that too. The woman's pose and averted gaze speak to something more internal than external. Notice how the draped material feels almost like a veil, partly obscuring her, which creates both concealment and display. This veil could reference a long cultural obsession and simultaneous rejection and desire of female allure and exposure. Curator: Exactly. Stieglitz himself was such a key figure in advocating for photography as a fine art form and, in this case, we see him exploring those boundaries in drawing. There are so many connections here between debates around women's sexuality, access to art-making and production, and female agency in the art world. Editor: Stieglitz uses such direct lines and anatomical sketch and manages to get us a full body depiction, replete with light and shadow. You've said it well: It's also compelling how this artwork sits at the precipice of symbolist eroticism and the dawning light of modernity in its focus and portrayal. The viewer cannot see everything, which renders what is depicted all the more tantalizing. Curator: This drawing captures a nuanced dialogue surrounding not only representation, but the active and activist construction of personhood at the beginning of the twentieth century. Editor: An interesting contrast that offers insight on identity via art object and the self. Thank you.