Johanna Kessler, im Profil nach links stehend c. 1870

Curator: Wilhelm Busch’s ink drawing, "Johanna Kessler, im Profil nach links stehend," from around 1870, offers a glimpse into the artist's observational skills. It is currently held at the Städel Museum. What are your immediate impressions? Editor: She looks so forlorn! Almost as if she’s waiting, patiently, for something that may never come. The starkness of the ink against the blank paper really amplifies that feeling, a kind of elegant melancholy. Curator: Indeed. The quick, almost frantic, hatching lines speak to a method of swift record keeping, an immediate response to the artist’s visual surroundings in that moment. One can feel that sketch-like spontaneity. I'm intrigued by the details of her dress - how the crisp lines define the fabrics, emphasizing both their texture and their weight. Editor: I see it. The dress really does become this architecture around her, a structure as much as clothing. It's so interesting how ink, just ink, can suggest not just visual form but almost tactile sensation, as if you could reach out and feel the weight of that skirt. Curator: And it's the choices in rendering those lines—their density and direction—that define her form but also contribute to that overall mood. One sees the labor in applying those different tones that suggest so much of her material circumstance. Editor: There's a lovely intimacy too, knowing it’s probably straight from the artist's sketchbook, a private glimpse into his world, or maybe her world at that moment, poised in thought, or maybe in boredom. I keep coming back to that sense of longing. Curator: Absolutely. Busch’s technical ability shines but this comes with so many social indicators about status through costume and setting, or the presumed leisure allowing someone to stand for their portrait. Editor: True. Art is rarely *just* what we see, but also the stories of who gets to be seen, who holds the pen, literally in this case! Curator: And now thinking about these factors, what a different dimension that adds! Thanks, I have gained so much insight just looking together. Editor: Agreed, It's funny how a simple line drawing can become such a deep dive. Thanks!