On the River's Edge 1910

Curator: Immediately I feel…tranquil, almost wistful. There’s something very poised and delicate about the figure in the boat. It's a calm but deep body of water with just hints of an oncoming summer breeze in the air, no? Editor: It does evoke serenity. Let's delve into the piece itself. This is “On the River's Edge," painted around 1910 by Rose O'Neill, best known as the creator of the Kewpie doll. We see an unknown female seated on a boat amid of water. Curator: The water looks almost like a mosaic, or even… a reflection of her interiority. Is she at peace, or is something else moving below the surface? And the color! What tones we see and could never name ourselves. Look! A pale kimono on a summer boat on cool, flowing water. Why does it evoke "that feeling" that summer days on rivers give us? Editor: Precisely, there’s an interesting interplay of color and light here, with a strong horizontal emphasis bisected by the curve of the boat. The ripples and dapples on the water aren't just representational, but almost function as abstract brushstrokes themselves. Look, the details on her hat? Amazing! Curator: Exactly! Almost impressionistic in execution. You see it, you breathe it. Her gentle profile and floral-brimmed hat are pure sunshine, aren't they? It all pulls us back to how we see people who go sailing on cool, misty lakes. Editor: Yet there’s a formalism too. Her gaze leads the eye towards an unseen point beyond the frame. She occupies the middle third, acting like a visual hinge of everything we will see in our imaginations. What is the world beyond the visible space, as filtered by her sight? Curator: Oh, that's wonderfully put! And those thoughts also drift gently on a hot summer day when you lose yourself looking at…well, anything. Like the summer river day we now enjoy inside of her portrait. Editor: O'Neill provides a moment of contained observation in what may seem at first just as a dreamy portrait of summer idylls, but quickly lets loose into some deep wonder. What a way of ending on our river tour.