Study for a Panel 1890 - 1897

Curator: At first glance, this watercolor sketch evokes a quiet, contemplative mood. Its delicate washes of color feel almost dreamlike. Editor: That’s Charles Sprague Pearce's "Study for a Panel," made sometime between 1890 and 1897. It exemplifies a fascination of the period for classical and allegorical scenes imbued with impressionistic light and color. Curator: I am intrigued by this almost ethereal representation of the female form as almost divine. And, notice the architecture here; it creates a kind of liminal space. The architecture could also be the architecture in a sacred garden. It may reference to enclosed convents of women who had few, if any rights in society. I feel she might be praying at an altar. What would you say about it as it speaks to woman's roles? Editor: Well, thinking about its late 19th-century context, such figures can become associated with the limitations placed upon women. She stands adjacent to a gate and structure suggesting enclosure; consider the ways in which this "Study" might reflect, intentionally or not, societal expectations and confines. Curator: Yet the liminality almost invites a kind of rebirth, where women and the landscape surrounding it are almost the same, speaking about and to a common humanistic bond. There's a definite classical simplicity to the woman's gown and draped fabric, offering continuity with antiquity, almost an expression of enduring values. Editor: And to move that forward, thinking about women's historical status, consider the limited career opportunities open to them then—making art almost a refuge and a space of empowerment or protest through which female creativity was funneled when politics, social standing and economics would otherwise not permit free expression. Curator: Beautiful point—bringing in the idea of art-making as protest against a society which repressed women through many different aspects. That makes one consider other layers to what appears, at first sight, an unremarkable watercolor study. Editor: Precisely; it makes you think more about art production happening at that time in response to those oppressions.