Mary 1938

Editor: We're looking at Will Barnet's 1938 charcoal drawing and print titled "Mary". She has this really introspective gaze and seems weighted by something. What resonates with you when you see this portrait? Curator: The weight you perceive may stem from the symbolic nature of the gaze itself. Think of portraiture through time—how artists used the eyes to convey virtue, status, even divinity. Here, in "Mary," there is an intense directness but it is also softened. Does her gaze strike you as accusatory, inviting, vulnerable, or perhaps something else entirely? Editor: Vulnerable, definitely. There's a wistfulness there, even though it's such a direct look. I wouldn't call it accusatory. Curator: Yes. Barnet may have meant to connect with a common theme in art: the inner self. Charcoal lends itself well to this, no? The way it builds shadows and suggests depths beneath the surface. How might those tonal shifts speak to different emotional states, for example? Editor: That makes sense. The soft charcoal blurs really do add depth but I guess it also feels kind of unfinished. Is that intentional? Curator: Perhaps. Or perhaps it represents the fleeting nature of youth, and memory. What sort of stories could we imagine from this face? Who was "Mary" beyond this glimpse in time? Editor: I guess that's up for the viewer to decide. Thanks, I hadn't really thought about it that way! Curator: The power of portraiture rests, after all, in this very ability: to prompt reflection not just on the subject but on ourselves.