Mask of Katherine Seney Simpson (Mrs. John W. Simpson) 1902

Editor: This is Rodin’s "Mask of Katherine Seney Simpson (Mrs. John W. Simpson)", made in 1902 from marble. There’s a delicate stillness to it, almost melancholic, wouldn’t you say? The way the form abruptly ends feels modern. What strikes you most about this work? Curator: It whispers a tale of incompleteness, doesn't it? Rodin often left his sculptures fragmented, exploring the tension between absence and presence. He was obsessed with capturing fleeting emotion, not just physical likeness. Look closely at the eyes - there’s a sadness, yes, but also a glimmer of something more complex. Editor: I see what you mean. The way the light catches the marble around the eyes gives it such depth. I wonder why just the face? Curator: That's Rodin playing with convention. Instead of a full portrait bust, he offers us just the essential: the face as a landscape of feeling. It's intimate, like overhearing a private thought. Was he trying to get at her inner self by just using the face? Editor: It makes you focus intently on the expression. The incompleteness is really thought-provoking! Thanks for pointing out those details. Curator: My pleasure. And isn’t it funny? The face is really the only thing we need to read a life. The smallest things always give it away.