Head of a Woman with her Hair Up, in Profile 1832 - 1835

Curator: This delicate drawing is "Head of a Woman with her Hair Up, in Profile" by Washington Allston. Though undated, it resides here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It's quite understated, isn’t it? The simplicity of the line and the soft color of the paper create a sense of quiet introspection. Curator: Allston was working within a Neoclassical tradition that valued idealized beauty, but he was also exploring Romantic themes of emotion and inner experience. The profile view, of course, lends itself to statuary, to a sense of the monumental, even in this small format. Editor: The material itself, the paper and the charcoal, speak to a provisionality, though. It feels like a fleeting impression, a sketch capturing a moment, not necessarily striving for permanence. Was this preparatory for another work, perhaps? Curator: It very well could have been. Allston often made studies of figures and faces for his larger history paintings. This drawing captures a certain sensibility, a yearning for something beyond the immediate. Editor: It's interesting how the materiality softens that academic edge. The sketchiness lends it a vulnerability that a more finished work might lack. Curator: Indeed. It offers a glimpse into Allston's process and, perhaps, into the very human experience he sought to represent. Editor: A beautiful reminder that even in studies, value and emotion persist.