Portrait Bust of Young Woman in Turban n.d.

Curator: Before us, we have "Portrait Bust of Young Woman in Turban," whose creator remains unknown to us. It's rendered in pencil and chalk, with some watercolor details on paper. What do you make of it? Editor: There's something melancholic about her gaze, wouldn’t you agree? She’s got this distant look that pulls you right in. The turban gives her this exotic flair, but the colors are so muted, almost like she's faded. Curator: It is interesting how the material contrasts the representation, and how the "exotic" gets translated. The use of chalk, pencil and watercolor suggests a relatively accessible and perhaps reproductive technique, creating the "original." This medium allowed for replication and distribution within a particular market. Editor: I think that touches on it. I am almost positive it must've felt utterly daring back then. Not only the material and the color scheme used, but it feels somehow…vulnerable, intimate even. Curator: Intimacy becomes another component of that marketable "exotic." In a material sense, her clothing is only suggested through minimal drawing. It's as if the viewer is catching a glimpse, and we must consider this in the context of class and societal power, where "exoticism" could denote a variety of complex interactions in both the East and West. Editor: Right, the suggestion is far more alluring than the definite statement. What would you say contributes most to its romantic feel? Curator: Definitely the use of readily available material to sketch such an "intimate" work of art contributes to the idea. But I keep returning to what might have been "consumed," in terms of vision, culture and ideology when such images entered the bourgeois home. What impact did it make to have "ethnic otherness" as domestic decor? Editor: Fair enough. But perhaps it was as simple as wanting a bit of dreamy beauty in the drawing room? Or just an opportunity for the maker to see new visual possibility. Curator: It probably hits both desires, wouldn't you agree? It's always multiple purposes for those early audiences, each looking for the piece to resonate on several cultural registers. Editor: Indeed. I think seeing it from these angles only enriches the story of this young woman in a turban.