Virgin and Child c. 1939

Curator: This watercolor drawing, titled "Virgin and Child," was created circa 1939 by Milton Bevier. There’s a striking emphasis on form achieved through layers of color, capturing the texture of the carved wooden figures depicted. Editor: It has this peculiar aura, almost like looking at a ghost of the past. The faces are so solemn, yet tender in a naive kind of way. It feels very stylized and symbolic. Curator: Stylized indeed. Looking closely, the materials and production process suggest a fascination with earlier medieval techniques adapted to 20th-century artistry. See how the watercolor is applied? It mimics the paint applied on older wooden carvings. I wonder what sort of labor went into carving the wood versus replicating that carving via painting. Editor: Right. And it makes me think about how the crown motif on both figures carries such heavy symbolic weight throughout centuries of religious art. It immediately elevates the figures, declaring them sacred and powerful but there is an innocence captured, like they’ve both been frozen mid-thought, caught between human concerns and celestial destinies. Curator: Good point. Consider the materials here. Watercolour, traditionally seen as less ‘serious’ than oil. Yet Bevier co-opts it to represent the materiality of the sculpture itself. A blurring of craft and fine art, and I think, also about making devotional images accessible to the modern viewer through these humble means. It raises questions about consumerism and class – who could afford elaborate wooden carvings, versus those who might obtain or even create an image like this. Editor: Absolutely. And the visual shorthand – the crowns, the draping robes – speaks directly to a pre-existing visual language, instantly recognizable to viewers familiar with Christian iconography. It bridges a gap between epochs. It's amazing how a seemingly simple image can echo centuries of cultural memory. Curator: Precisely. Thinking about how such images function in society gives new weight to considering how something mass produced impacts consumption. Thanks, that symbol analysis illuminates its social use. Editor: And thank you for expanding on the significance of its material and craft—I appreciate its layered echo of symbolic and historical significance more clearly now.