The Dancer Anita Berber 1919

Editor: This is Charlotte Berend-Corinth's "The Dancer Anita Berber," a drawing currently residing at the Harvard Art Museums. There's a frenetic energy here, a sense of wild abandon. What symbols do you see at play? Curator: The figure herself is a potent symbol of Weimar-era decadence, but look closer. The act of drinking, the slumped posture – these aren't just personal choices, they're visual shorthand for a society teetering on the edge. Do you see any religious symbols inverted to show disruption? Editor: I see the hat with feathers looking similar to angel wings. Curator: Exactly, angel wings and yet there is something disruptive, chaotic about them. Note how the artist uses a simple medium to capture the figure’s spirit and also the era’s anxieties. Editor: I hadn’t considered the drawing itself as a symbol! Curator: Every element contributes. Visual symbols can carry so much information about the cultural climate and the artist's psychological landscape.