Glacier du Brouillard From High Up c. 1907

Curator: I'm struck by the starkness of it; it feels cold and monumental, all captured in a few, assured strokes. Editor: This is John Singer Sargent's "Glacier du Brouillard From High Up," a graphite drawing residing at the Harvard Art Museums. Curator: Sargent's decision to depict a glacier resonates with Romantic era symbolism—nature's sublime power, dwarfing human concerns. Editor: It's like a visual shorthand for something immense. The quick lines almost feel like the mountain is breathing—or about to rumble. Curator: Right! Glaciers, culturally, are potent reminders of time's passage and the Earth's enduring transformations. They represent both beauty and impending change. Editor: A change we're all far too aware of now. Looking at this drawing, it's less an image of static beauty and more a poignant symbol of something vanishing. Curator: Exactly, and Sargent, perhaps unwittingly, captured that duality. It's a sketch pregnant with meaning—personal, cultural, and now, ecological. Editor: Well put. It's amazing how a few lines can hold such weight.