Figure and Black Mantle 

Curator: Before us is Hedda Sterne's "Figure and Black Mantle," a mixed-media drawing that flirts with portraiture and surrealism. Editor: Haunting, isn't it? That spectral face with the enormous eyes paired with what looks like draped velvet—almost unnervingly tactile. Curator: Sterne’s work often grappled with identity in the post-war world, navigating the politics of abstraction versus figuration. You see it here, this interplay—or maybe collision—of a recognizable figure with something much more dreamlike. Editor: I'm fascinated by the contrast in materials and execution. The face feels mechanically reproduced, set against the much softer texture implied by that 'mantle.' Is it fabric, or clever illusion? The texture begs to be touched. I wonder about the sourcing—was this about access to particular means of reproduction and specific materials? Curator: Considering Sterne’s avant-garde milieu in New York, it’s easy to see the influence of Surrealist practices. This piece emerges in a time of artists grappling with trauma and mass displacement, looking at how these upheavals impact individual and collective identities. Editor: It is interesting, seeing figuration and abstraction as competing forms rather than seeing abstraction, in the more literal sense, as taking something away from the figure itself. This contrast—between, as you say, abstraction and representation—highlights a tension between emotional availability and something being withheld. Curator: That resonates. The gaze of that face feels almost accusatory, set against the starkness of the background and the dramatic drape. What does this "black mantle" conceal, or perhaps reveal, about the figure beneath? The social implications here feel both personal and widely relevant to her historical context. Editor: It makes me think of theatrical stagecraft – costume and set design, of materiality meant to provoke feeling. I imagine the texture of the velvet under the stark stage lights. How that feels different than how it appears. A real feeling, rendered. Curator: A powerful work to ponder as we consider identity, materiality, and the enduring legacy of the avant-garde. Editor: Yes, the making on display here is particularly striking; I’ll keep considering its construction and texture as I move on.