Girl Combing Her Hair 1935

Curator: Let's talk about Will Barnet's etching, "Girl Combing Her Hair," created in 1935. It's a work rendered through a delicate etching technique, a departure from the often bold approaches of modernism. Editor: There’s a certain tenderness here, even in the sharp lines of the etching. The figure seems caught in a moment of private ritual, suspended between repose and action. Curator: I agree. The nude female form presented within this scene offers an intimate view, yet the method, etching, allows for reproducibility, shifting the dynamics of access and viewership in a fascinating way. It complicates our understanding of the model's role, right? Editor: Right! There's something quietly subversive in depicting a nude like this—it is both intimate and removed, classical yet utterly modern in its vulnerability. The lines almost caress the figure, highlighting both its form and fragility. It feels timeless but immediate. I almost feel a longing for simpler times and forgotten beauty, captured within the etching's stark simplicity. Curator: Yes! And consider the industrial processes involved—the production of acid, the press mechanics, the labor involved in each print, contrasted with the personal act it represents. We have both the mechanization and romanticism. Editor: And yet, isn’t that precisely what makes this piece so compelling? The tension between the cold, industrial method and the very warm, human subject. In an era defined by progress, we see echoes of personal history. This creates an intimacy I am pulled towards! It makes me appreciate that there can be soul even within calculated execution! Curator: Absolutely! That’s an apt summation. I hadn’t thought of that specific contrast that strongly before now. Thank you. Editor: The piece sort of crept under my skin! It's been such a delightful encounter; a bit surprising!