Seated Japanese Girl 1916

Editor: This is Wilhelm Lehmbruck’s "Seated Japanese Girl", currently housed at the Harvard Art Museums. It feels so intimate, almost like a stolen glance. How do you interpret this work, considering its title? Curator: The title itself is interesting. Lehmbruck, a German artist, depicts a figure identified as "Japanese." This act of naming immediately places the drawing within a history of Western artists representing non-Western subjects. What assumptions might Lehmbruck have brought to this representation? Editor: Perhaps a romanticized view? Was there a particular fascination with Japanese culture in Europe at the time? Curator: Precisely! Japonisme heavily influenced European art. Consider how Lehmbruck's style, while his own, participates in a broader cultural trend of appropriating and reimagining Japanese aesthetics for a Western audience. What effect do you think that context has on our reading of the drawing today? Editor: It makes me question the power dynamics at play and consider the artist’s gaze more critically. Thanks! Curator: Indeed, it pushes us to think about how art reflects and shapes our understanding of different cultures.