Doppelbildnis einer stehenden und einer sitzenden Frau 

Curator: Before us is a drawing titled "Doppelbildnis einer stehenden und einer sitzenden Frau" attributed to Otto Scholderer. Editor: It has a certain melancholic air about it. The soft pencil lines almost seem to blend the two figures into the textured ground. It evokes a quiet domesticity, almost mournful. Curator: Yes, the use of pencil certainly contributes to that softness. The artist uses the medium quite traditionally for sketching a composition. It has clear figurative qualities, typical for romantic portraits and genre-paintings. Editor: I’m immediately drawn to the marks themselves. You can almost trace the artist’s hand at work. And thinking about the labour involved, the precise strokes needed to render the texture of their dresses. The quality of the pencil used affects the density of pigment laid down onto the drawing’s surface. It gives real physical presence to these otherwise ephemeral characters. Curator: Quite. Notice how the structural organization places one figure standing, slightly behind and to the side of the seated figure. This creates an interesting dynamic of power and perspective between the two. Also, note the subtle interplay of light and shadow that sculpt their forms and gives them depth. Editor: It’s not just about light and shadow. I find myself considering the material culture of the time. What were these women doing, as makers and consumers, while this sketch was in progress? Were they creating the dresses they are depicted wearing, or simply buying something new? What do their clothes signify, and what's implied about their access to materials and their labor? Curator: That brings an interesting layer. Though left wanting as we see them rendered solely through these fine pencil strokes. Yet there is an undeniably captivating quality here, a snapshot of humanity through line and form. Editor: A testament to labor, materiality, and even consumption! These all converge within that sheet of paper itself, bearing the weight of process.