Josiah Wedgewood n.d.

Editor: So, this is George Stubbs’s portrait of Josiah Wedgwood. It's a drawing done with pencil, graphite, and chalk on paper. What I immediately notice is how the background shading is much more heavily rendered than the figure, creating this kind of halo effect. How do you read that formal contrast? Curator: The stark contrast indeed draws the eye. Observe how Stubbs uses hatching and cross-hatching, primarily in the backdrop. Note the layering of graphite and chalk. What does that achieve visually, compared to the more delicate linework used to describe Wedgewood's features? Editor: It almost flattens the background, pushing the figure forward? The face has so much delicate rendering that the subject almost breathes, contrasting with the backdrop? Curator: Precisely. The meticulous rendering of the face, achieved with fine gradations of tone and value, versus the vigorous and almost abstract scribbles behind, create a powerful sense of depth and volume. Also, observe the composition. The artist very subtly plays with lines – note, how even Wedgewood’s coat adds geometric order and contributes to overall form. Editor: So you are saying that it's through purely formal means - the sharp distinction of background and foreground - that the portrait achieves its dynamism? Not through like, an explicit message? Curator: Consider how the varying line qualities themselves speak. Sharp and delicate in one place, blurred in the other. Are there areas where the medium is more blended, where it appears dry or textured? This formal language, divorced from any explicit external narrative, can evoke feeling and form an implicit portrait of its own. Editor: I see, it's less about who Josiah Wedgwood was, and more about how Stubbs deployed all of the potential that graphite, chalk and paper provide. I hadn't thought of it like that before. Thanks! Curator: An artwork, in its purest state, represents an artist's aesthetic intent captured by the manipulation of his materials, with the goal of visually communicating an artist's impression, devoid of explicit narrative.