Girl with Flowers c. 1910

Curator: Max Weber's "Girl with Flowers," likely created around 1910, offers a fascinating study in early modern portraiture using what appears to be a mix of oil and drawing techniques. The impasto adds texture. Editor: The first thing that hits me is this feeling of serene stillness, like a silent film still where everything’s poised and the narrative is held in suspension, like holding one's breath. There's something haunting, almost childlike, in the figure’s large eyes. Curator: It's interesting you pick up on the "childlike" aspect. Weber, along with other modernists of this period, were very interested in primitivism and how the child-like could connect them to more primal artistic energies. We must consider that artists like Weber were interrogating what "high art" could even be at the turn of the century. Editor: The blue dress especially contributes to this sense of...naive formality, perhaps. The paint seems applied with a certain bluntness; the brushstrokes almost aggressively simple, clashing gently with that frilly collar. Are those lemons in the bowl? And is she holding, like, the *only* flower from the plant next to her? Curator: The composition indeed juxtaposes elements of domestic life - fruits, flowers, a patterned fabric beneath. The girl, situated at the intersection of these carefully arranged objects, takes on the quality of a commodity, or a figure to be possessed or idealized perhaps. Editor: So it becomes a loaded still life then! Weber is saying something about her status, and ours, as viewers—what are we consuming when we look at this young woman with flowers? I suppose I hadn't really thought about what I am consuming by gazing at her and commenting, which is unnerving, I feel put on the spot suddenly! Curator: Exactly! By drawing our attention to these artistic gestures, the impasto marks and the stylized simplicity, Weber prevents easy consumption of his art, making visible the labor, the artist’s intervention, forcing us to reflect on production as well as representation. Editor: Looking again, I'm noticing those rather austere eyebrows. I think I see it all differently now! So, "Girl with Flowers" initially felt serene to me. But it's actually brimming with unresolved tensions. Curator: Indeed, I think examining it through materiality offers some insight on class structure. Editor: Absolutely! Makes you think.