Untitled (two topless women lying on their stomachs on beds in health business) 1947

Editor: This is an untitled photograph by Martin Schweig, part of the Harvard Art Museums collection. It shows two women lying down, and it feels…clinical, almost staged. What do you see in this piece? Curator: You know, that clinical feeling is spot on. The stark lighting, the almost surgical setting...it practically screams "observation." It makes me wonder what Schweig was observing. Is it simply the female form, or something deeper about vulnerability and the act of being seen? The photograph has a surreal quality, don't you think? Editor: Definitely surreal. It's like a dreamscape, but a very sterile one. Thanks, I think I see it now. Curator: The pleasure is mine.