Bodice c. 1937

Editor: Here we have Edna Rex’s “Bodice,” circa 1937, a drawing rendered in watercolor and colored pencil on paper. It feels almost like a fragment, a suggestion of opulence. What catches your eye about this piece? Curator: Well, immediately I’m thinking about the context of fashion illustration in the 1930s. Think about magazines, department store catalogs - these images weren't just about depicting clothing, but about projecting aspiration, class, and the ideal feminine form. Does this image fit within that landscape of the projection of aspiration? Or does it say something different? Editor: I think the deliberate incompleteness sets it apart. It's not selling a complete look; it’s more like an intimate study. A relic, almost. Curator: Precisely! It’s the “almost” that’s interesting. Think about the Depression era; could this be interpreted as a yearning for a bygone era of lavishness or a comment on the accessibility, or inaccessibility, of that lifestyle? Does the incomplete nature hint at that tension? The careful rendering of the lace against the more muted background could suggest a critical view of artifice itself. Editor: That's a fascinating point. The attention to detail highlights the…constructedness of it all. So it's both beautiful and critical? Curator: Absolutely! Art doesn't exist in a vacuum. Edna Rex, as a female artist, would have been navigating very specific expectations and limitations in the art world, so maybe this is a way of critiquing them. Editor: This conversation has definitely made me look at this drawing in a new light! Curator: And for me, it highlights the power of even seemingly simple images to tell complex stories about society and culture.