In Front of the Hat Shop (woman with red jacket and child) 1913

Curator: Welcome. We're looking at August Macke's "In Front of the Hat Shop (woman with red jacket and child)," created in 1913. It resides in a private collection, and its rendering suggests gouache and perhaps oil pastel, given the richness of color. What strikes you most? Editor: Oh, immediately? It feels like a whispered secret of a memory. The colors are vibrant, but softened. It's dreamlike. I imagine a stolen moment from childhood. Curator: Yes, the application of pigment contributes to that sense of fleeting impression. The almost casual depiction of the modes creates a discourse around access and the construction of identity in early 20th century urban life. How would that chime in with your feelings? Editor: That’s interesting… I am struck by how solid yet stylized those shapes and forms of the Modes are, giving it this sort of sturdy almost playful essence. It's not slavishly devoted to representing reality, that's for sure. I'm not immediately worrying about identities in a modern urban setting, but maybe feeling this inner world, which then intersects with consumerism represented by the shop? Curator: Precisely. Macke deliberately abstracts the figures, almost as vessels interacting with a space of commercial display. Consider the red jacket; a strong color set against more muted tones, symbolic of burgeoning consumer culture and material desire of the period? Or is this, too, too pragmatic a way to put the art into discourse of consumerism? Editor: Okay, I see your point. But let me float an idea. What if the red is not desire, but… urgency? That splash against this otherwise calming scene is to me more exciting than anything else. I feel invited. There’s movement. There’s… somewhere to go! It has a theatrical nature, like walking onto a stage. But both are true maybe? Consumerism is both those urges, of course. Curator: The artist employs what seems to be almost a pastiche of mark-making that reinforces the complex dynamics of the era. His decision of colors and composition contributes to its visual encoding. Editor: Right, well, my materialist friend, as always, your insights are helpful at teasing out those hidden nuances embedded within. But for me, I still think it's lovely. Simple as. It hits the heart first and, yes, maybe nudges the brain afterward. Curator: I think that's a perfectly valid and fitting emotional point to conclude upon. Thank you for your perspectives, too!