Letter A: Adam, Where Are You? c. 1912

Curator: I find Lovis Corinth’s “Letter A: Adam, Where Are You?” hauntingly beautiful. There's a rawness to its monochrome palette that really underscores the figures' vulnerability. Editor: The first thing that strikes me is its graphic quality. It’s not just a depiction but a construction, that bold 'A' framing Adam and Eve, drawing attention to the medium itself. What sort of paper and graphite do you think he employed here to achieve such bold effects? Curator: Knowing Corinth, I imagine he chose materials that would allow for rapid, expressive strokes – something almost visceral. It’s like he's reaching back into the very origin of things, questioning the nature of innocence lost. Editor: Indeed. The swiftness with which he seems to have worked is palpable, emphasizing the labor and physicality of the drawing process. This feels less like a biblical illustration and more like an exploration of artistic and human origins, wouldn't you say? Curator: Absolutely. Corinth wrestles with the story. It’s not just a retelling; it's an excavation of his own doubts and, perhaps, a search for grace in a world rapidly losing its own. Editor: Precisely, and by foregrounding the means of creation—the paper, the pencil, the artist's hand—he brings this primordial narrative crashing into the material realities of his time. Curator: That's a profound observation; it’s as though the Fall becomes a metaphor for the artist’s own struggle with the burden of representation. Editor: It is a fitting end, I think, to our brief journey through the looking glass of art's origins and material manifestations.