Three Sketches-Two Geese Walking; Peasant Woman with a Cow; Goose Hiding its Head 1895 - 1897

Curator: Looking at this collection of sketchbook drawings, "Three Sketches" made between 1895 and 1897 by Alfred Sisley—gooses and a cow!—one immediately feels a sense of playful observation, doesn't one? Editor: Indeed. What strikes me first is the immediacy of the line work. Each sketch is a study in essential forms. The lines feel quite raw, even experimental, capturing a quick impression rather than striving for anatomical correctness. Curator: I see a kind of casual poetry. Look at the goose hiding its head—it's pure Sisley! I can almost feel him chuckling to himself while recording that intimate, vulnerable gesture, immortalizing it with the humblest materials of pen and watercolour. Editor: Yes, the informality contributes to the work’s appeal. Technically, Sisley employs what we might term a reductive method. He gets the essence of a goose's waddle, a cow’s massiveness with just the barest details. I note the colour too—very limited, accentuating only key areas and enhancing the elemental feel. Curator: It suggests the peace he might have found wandering the fields outside his city studio. This work gives such a great window into the life, the artist life; those in-between moments, which is exactly what a great sketchbook ought to show. Editor: And we cannot overlook the arrangement of the composition within the single page. The arrangement is crucial to perceiving the works in dialogue, so that we can observe that the drawings complement each other; geese walking with the woman in the fields—life in an early stage of its own making! Curator: Ultimately, though, what lingers is the artist's obvious pleasure in simple subjects and making work! No ego involved. Just the simple joy of drawing some sketches of local nature. It's utterly inspiring, somehow. Editor: Precisely, the economy of means leads to a richer symbolic register. We witness the intersection of the personal and the universal through minimal marks; the art of seeing is definitely illuminated for us, for sure!