Private Theatricals. Behynde Ye Scenes, from "Manners and Customs of Ye Bostonians" c. 19th century

Curator: This drawing, by Francis Gilbert Attwood, is titled "Private Theatricals. Behynde Ye Scenes, from 'Manners and Customs of Ye Bostonians'." It offers a glimpse behind the curtain, literally. Editor: It's all lines and angles! There's a nervous energy, a frenetic quality to the composition, with all this cross-hatching. Curator: This sketch captures the late 19th-century fascination with earlier eras, reflecting a nostalgia for a perceived genteel past amid rapid industrialization. Editor: The artist uses the stark simplicity of line to create a world of elaborate costumes and theatrical artifice, so sparse, yet detailed. Curator: It is interesting that the artist is focused on the behind the scenes, instead of the theatrical performance itself. Attwood reveals a hidden world. Editor: Perhaps the "real" drama lies in the preparation, the anticipation, rather than the performance itself. Curator: A key takeaway is the artist's choice to present theater's performative aspect as a microcosm of society, highlighting the constructed nature of social roles. Editor: Precisely, the visible framework – the lines, the scaffolding – exposes the underlying structure, the artifice, of what we see.