A Sorceress 1898

Curator: This is "A Sorceress" by John Duncan, created around 1898 using oil paints. Editor: The colour palette immediately draws me in. It has a slightly unsettling feel, though. Not unpleasant, just... off-kilter. The brushwork seems loose, dreamlike, and creates this very surreal landscape. Curator: The painting very much represents the Symbolist movement, with the occult themes explored. We can certainly discuss this interest in folklore and mystical subjects amongst artists at this time. Duncan was deeply influenced by Celtic Revivalism and was really exploring concepts of nationhood, exploring historical motifs. Editor: The composition is really interesting. You've got this central female figure, clearly the sorceress, in a long, patterned robe. Her expression is ambiguous, like she holds some secret knowledge. And then, in the background, there are the crouching figures and strange flora - almost Eden-esque. The juxtaposition really gives that surreal effect. And what about the snake to the lower left? Is this a nod towards old archetypes, symbols and their inherent relationship? Curator: Undoubtedly, Iconography helps to flesh out what might only seem an "erotic" representation of this woman figure in what we are familiar in modern art, but to a people living at the time there would have been an acceptance, though perhaps confused with what was accepted folklore and ritual at that time. A rejection, acceptance of national indentity. How did Duncan make those associations in their minds with this work? What type of patron, public display? Editor: Fascinating to think about the cultural associations a turn-of-the-century audience might have brought to this painting. We are now a hundred years apart and the visual symbols still evoke the memory! Curator: Duncan worked within the system available at the time but really the Celtic and Pre-Raphaelite style ultimately didn't prove populist, especially after both world wars in a shifting British landscape. And yet a symbolist artist still exploring those deeper emotional motifs, can we ever deny the truth in their craft even though popular favour dwindled? Editor: Exactly, that cultural echo continues to fascinate even now. "A Sorceress" invites so many layers of inquiry into memory, belief, and the enduring power of symbols.