Study of Furniture: Chair and Bureau 19th-20th century

Editor: This is Charles Herbert's "Study of Furniture: Chair and Bureau" from the Harvard Art Museums. It's a sepia wash drawing, and it feels almost melancholic to me. What do you see in this quiet scene? Curator: I see a reflection of 19th-century domesticity, but also perhaps a critique. The carefully rendered furniture speaks to the era's emphasis on status and material possessions, but the somber tone suggests a potential emptiness within that pursuit. Where is the human presence? Editor: That’s interesting. So you’re seeing absence as a commentary on Victorian values? Curator: Precisely. Herbert might be prompting us to question the social structures and expectations that confined individuals within these spaces, focusing on the objects rather than the people. What do you think? Editor: I hadn't considered it that way, but the lack of figures is definitely noticeable now. It gives me a lot to think about. Curator: It certainly does for me as well. Art like this is not just about capturing a scene, but questioning the narrative and purpose it presents.