The New English Art Club 1907

Editor: This drawing is by Sir Max Beerbohm, simply titled "The New English Art Club." The exaggerated features make it feel like a commentary on the art world. What’s your take? Curator: Beerbohm was a master of caricature, using it as social critique. Consider the context: The New English Art Club, while advocating some modernism, was still a very male, very establishment space. How do you think Beerbohm uses these figures to comment on power? Editor: I guess the exaggeration inflates their importance, but also makes them seem ridiculous. It's like he's poking fun at the establishment. Curator: Exactly! He questions their authority by exaggerating their self-importance. It makes you wonder who really gets to decide what "good" art is and who is excluded from that conversation. Editor: That's a great point! It’s more than just funny; it’s a challenge to the art world's power dynamics. Curator: Precisely. It prompts us to reflect on whose voices are amplified and whose are silenced.