Phalerum (from Sketchbook) 1904

Curator: Welcome. Today we’re looking at Mary Newbold Sargent’s "Phalerum (from Sketchbook)," created in 1904, and currently residing here at the Met. It’s a pencil drawing, a landscape sketch of a coastal scene. Editor: It feels incredibly immediate, almost like a quick thought jotted down. I get a sense of vast space, even though it's just pencil on paper. It makes me want to fill it with colour, or imagine the sounds of that port. Curator: Yes, that immediacy stems from it being a sketch. If you look closely at the mountainous forms in the background, you'll see how Sargent economically used her pencil strokes, suggesting volume with hatching rather than outlining forms rigidly. Think of it as shorthand for observation, reflecting impressionistic notions about capturing a moment. Editor: I'm drawn to the way she balances detail with open space. The cluster of buildings on the shoreline grounds the image, gives it a sense of human activity, but it's almost dwarfed by the scale of the mountains and that vast, empty sea. Like a meditation on transience perhaps? I’m imagining all that history…the docks, the work happening there, even in a quick sketch! Curator: That point about work is quite astute. How much the commodification and transportation along the docks influenced impressionistic artists is underexplored, as it became accessible, affordable to take vacations to these docks along with the rise of maritime travel. How the materials in the sketch function similarly. Editor: Hmm, that's a lens I hadn't considered, viewing this work through the access of the period. Now that I reconsider, it isn’t a fully fleeting observation…but I like that she allows us, in pencil, to almost touch this experience—making our own impressions along with her! Curator: Exactly, and it's a prime example of how these sketches informed the larger landscape paintings. By paying attention to these under-appreciated works on paper we can find a wealth of materialist and artistic expression. Editor: Indeed. Each pencil line almost echoes with history, not just the landscape's but also Sargent’s act of creation—a fascinating look at a moment, framed perfectly.