Sketches of Animals 19th-20th century

Curator: Here we have William Valentine Schevill's "Sketches of Animals," a drawing from the Harvard Art Museums' collection. It appears to be a medley of chickens and, intriguingly, a cat. Editor: It feels like a page torn from a naturalist's notebook, a flurry of feathery, clawed impressions. All sketched in a tentative graphite. Curator: Indeed, there's a raw, immediate quality to it. The repeated studies of the chickens, their various poses, evoke a sense of movement and life. In many cultures, the chicken symbolizes courage, vigilance, and even resurrection. Editor: And yet, despite all those confident associations, the cat at the bottom feels like a trickster, a different kind of animal energy introduced as a joke. Is it a symbol of domesticity gone awry? Curator: Perhaps Schevill was contemplating the dynamic between the wild and the tame, or simply indulging in the joy of observation. Editor: It's like a little visual poem, reminding us that art doesn't always need to be grand; sometimes, the beauty lies in these intimate glimpses.