Female Legs 19th-20th century

Editor: This is John Singer Sargent's "Female Legs," housed at the Harvard Art Museums. The simplicity of the charcoal really emphasizes the form. What can you tell me about Sargent's compositional choices here? Curator: Note how Sargent uses line weight to define the musculature and volume. The absence of background directs our attention to the interplay of light and shadow across the figure. Observe the economy of line; what does that signify to you? Editor: It feels like a study in progress, like he's isolating a particular element. Curator: Precisely. He's dissecting the human form, reducing it to essential lines and tonal values, seeking its underlying structure. It's an exercise in pure form. Editor: I never considered approaching a figure this way. Curator: Seeing the body as form, and line as language, changes everything.