Woman with Arms Akimbo 1815 - 1892

Editor: So, this is "Woman with Arms Akimbo" by Constantin Guys, sometime between 1815 and 1892, a watercolor and pen drawing. It strikes me as very…assertive, maybe even a bit impatient? Look at her stance! What’s your read on this work? Curator: Oh, I see her quite differently! For me, she's not so much impatient as self-possessed. Look at how the watercolor almost seems to swirl around her, as if she’s a still point in a fluid world. Doesn't the rapid sketch-like quality evoke a sense of fleeting observation, like a snatched glimpse of a confident woman going about her day? Editor: Fleeting observation… I hadn’t thought of it that way. It definitely gives her a certain dynamism. But what's with the, uh, aggressive arms? Curator: Ah, the arms! Or "akimbo" as the title rather cleverly says. What if it's not aggression, but a playful defiance? A "don't fence me in" sort of energy? Given that Guys was a bit of a dandy and flâneur himself, drifting through Parisian society, maybe this captures a similar rebellious spirit found in the women of his era. What do you make of that big voluminous dress? Editor: Rebellious spirit… intriguing! And the dress does overwhelm the piece; you're almost swallowed by all that material. Now that I see the pose differently, she looks like a force, emanating from within all this material! Curator: Precisely! It's as if she's using the very fabric of her world, quite literally in this picture, to express her strength. Editor: I'm now looking at her in a completely new way, seeing confidence where I saw impatience! Curator: And that’s the beauty of art, isn’t it? A single shift in perspective can unravel an entirely new story. I love the layers of meaning in the swift stroke and brush in the monochrome hues!