Sketch of a Female Nude 19th-20th century

Curator: Lovis Corinth, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, produced this sketch of a female nude. It's currently part of the collection at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: She looks like she's caught mid-stretch, maybe even yawning. I can almost feel the cool air on her skin just by looking at this quick sketch. Curator: Indeed. Corinth was interested in the immediacy of sensation. Nudes in this period became less about the idealized form and more about the everyday, the real. Editor: It’s interesting how few lines he uses to convey so much. There's an almost childlike quality to the simplicity, but it's charged with mature sensuality. Curator: I agree. The drawing shows a fascinating tension between the academic tradition of life drawing, and the burgeoning Expressionist movement. He definitely straddled both worlds. Editor: It makes me wonder about the woman he captured so fleetingly. Was she aware of being observed? Did she know she was being immortalized in art? We'll never know her story. Curator: Perhaps the mystery is part of the point. The image leaves room for our imagination, opening the door to all kinds of stories. Editor: That’s why I love art, it’s not about what is shown, but what it ignites in you, even in a simple sketch like this.