X-radiograph(s) of "Self-Portrait" 

Curator: Here we have an X-radiograph of a self-portrait by Chester Harding. It is housed here at the Harvard Art Museums, with film dimensions of 14 x 17. Editor: It's like peering into the soul of a painting, or maybe into the artist himself! It's ghostly, revealing layers unseen, all those underpaintings and the support structure. Curator: Precisely! The X-radiograph allows us to examine the artist's process and the materials used in ways a surface view never could, blurring lines between observation, documentation, and creation. Editor: It also makes you wonder what he was thinking, this man who is both there and not there. What did he want to project? It is quite intriguing! Curator: Absolutely, it provides a different layer of history; seeing the portrait's construction allows us a deeper understanding of its cultural and material context. Editor: The X-ray transforms it; it becomes less about representation and more about revealing the very essence, or bones, of the work. A haunting kind of beauty, really.