Partly Draped Model c. 1906

Curator: Right, let's turn our attention to Robert Henri's "Partly Draped Model" from around 1906, hanging here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Editor: Ooh, a bit ghostly, isn’t she? All smoky edges and indistinct form, like a memory of a figure rather than the thing itself. I immediately get this feeling of quiet intimacy... vulnerability. Curator: Henri was known for his expressive brushwork and focus on capturing the vitality of everyday life, even within seemingly traditional subjects. He favored quick, gestural marks—notice how the pastel strokes define the contours, or lack thereof. Editor: Yes! It's all implied, isn't it? The form emerges from this almost chaotic scramble of blues and greens. There's this interesting tension, too. It could dissolve into total abstraction if you didn’t focus on it. The drape itself is particularly captivating with all those different shades overlapping and moving into one another. Curator: You touched on an interesting element, actually, in Henri’s blending of realism with abstraction. The way he uses color and line independently, so it both suggests form, while still being purely, vibrantly itself. It's about finding that edge. It’s what gives the work its modernity and sets him apart. Editor: What interests me most, perhaps, is how unfinished it feels. Like Henri has shared with us, this private moment between artist and muse. And with that partial concealment of the drape there is a sort of ambiguity, even innocence, in it that makes you reflect about how the rest is just concealed for our wandering eyes. Curator: I think Henri used this type of composition to present his sitter in an emotional, rather than academic light. This kind of image speaks to feeling rather than any cold, academic process. Editor: Yes, and to consider, that this study—likely a preparation for something larger—holds such powerful, complete expression feels somehow poetic, like a fragment that contains a universe. Curator: It gives you so much room to make it yours as a viewer, right? You bring yourself to it. Editor: Precisely. Thanks, Henri.