Pair of dancers c. 1765

Curator: The Harvard Art Museums hold this intriguing piece by Joseph Nees, called "Pair of Dancers." Editor: There's an elegant, almost brittle quality to the way these figures are rendered. The composition directs our eye upward, following the dancers' graceful poses. Curator: Looking at this porcelain figurine, it's hard not to consider the social context of dance in its time—a highly gendered space of courtship and performance. We could think about the power dynamics in play. Editor: Indeed, but notice the way the light catches the curve of her arm, echoing the rococo base, or the contrasting textures of her dress and his jacket... Curator: And how that performance of elegance could be a means to assert agency, even within the constraints of social expectation. Editor: Perhaps, but I’m drawn back to the interplay of lines; the way the artist uses form to create a sense of lightness, a fleeting moment captured in porcelain. Curator: A fleeting moment shaped by societal norms, certainly. Editor: True, and yet, those formal elements still speak across time, don't they?