La Loge c. 19th century

Curator: This is Fortuné Delarue's "La Loge," currently residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. It's a small piece, just a few inches in either direction. Editor: My immediate thought? Anticipation. A flurry of hats and eager faces peering out. What's about to unfold on that stage? Curator: The loge, the theater box, was a space of both visibility and observation. Delarue captures that tension beautifully, doesn't he? All those feathers... Editor: Feathers as symbols of flighty fancy, perhaps? The women, adorned and poised, become part of the spectacle themselves. Who's watching whom, really? It's all a bit circular, isn’t it? Curator: Absolutely. And notice the unfinished quality— the piece is more about gesture and impression than precise detail. Delarue gives us a glimpse, a suggestive sketch of a social ritual. Editor: It’s almost voyeuristic, like a charcoal-smudged secret whispered across time. I like that, the sense of something fleeting. Curator: Fleeting, indeed. A moment of poised expectation, distilled into ink and paper. It makes you wonder what they saw. Editor: Or what they hoped to see. Always a crucial distinction!