Slipper c. 1937

Curator: Ah, there's something wonderfully vulnerable about this piece. "Slipper," a pencil drawing created around 1937 by Grace Halpin. The solitude, you know? A single shoe. I can’t help but think of it in pairs. Editor: The initial impression is stark, definitely, almost clinical. There’s a documentary feel in how the slipper is rendered, isolated. What about its positioning – doesn’t that evoke ideas about domesticity and servitude? A discarded object hinting at hidden labour? Curator: Absolutely! It whispers of hidden labour and the delicate, quiet moments. And yes, discarded... but not carelessly, rather… lovingly left behind. The precision with the pencil gives the drawing such clarity. Makes me wonder, whose slipper was it? A ballet dancer perhaps or was it made for everyday walking and wearing? And what was its significance to Halpin? Editor: I see it echoing socialist concerns too, around work, leisure, and the accessibility of beauty. Who is entitled to wear slippers like these? Halpin painted in this style for at least fifteen years, which would have started well before the depression. But the 1930's saw such social movements about class struggle. Does this piece fit into that struggle? Curator: I like that, placing Halpin in the milieu of those tensions. She transforms an ordinary object into something quite poignant. There’s almost an elegy about it, something delicate and transient. It invites us to slow down, and remember what makes each of us whole. Editor: Thinking about women in Halpin’s time—domestic expectations, art world marginalisation, how could she express that world? I think there's a certain strength in her attention to these small, often ignored domestic details. This slipper isn’t just an item of clothing; it represents a history, the lives of working women. It captures what we choose to conceal, and how lives lived can then find itself reflected in small acts of beauty, if given space to be seen. Curator: Exactly, these moments, those acts… So often overlooked, precisely as the heart of all matters. Thanks for that angle, shifting its private essence to societal echo. Editor: The beauty here becomes political by virtue of attention paid. By inviting us to witness Halpin has expanded what we can perceive.