Ava Mendelsohn c. 19th - 20th century

Curator: Looking at this drawing, my first thought is how quietly intense she seems. The soft pastels belie the power of her gaze. Editor: Indeed. Here we have "Ava Mendelsohn," a pastel drawing from around the turn of the 20th century by Jean-Louis Forain, an artist deeply entrenched in the world of Impressionism and known for his keen observations of Parisian life. Curator: Turn of the century… It certainly feels like a captured moment, an intimacy preserved on paper. I love the asymmetry, the way her face is lit. It makes me think about backstage glances, a private reverie before a performance maybe? Editor: The light and shadow definitely play a key role here. Notice how Forain employs the sfumato technique – a subtle blurring – around the edges of her face. This softening enhances the overall mood, and draws attention to the precise lines that delineate her features. Her pearls, in contrast, seem crisply defined, each bead holding a tiny fragment of light. Curator: Right, almost like each pearl holds its own secret! And those charcoal strokes defining her hair – so gestural, so full of movement, they contradict the stillness of her face. There is a beautiful tension here. Editor: A delicious tension. Her elegant necklace suggests her social standing. Yet the artist uses this single adornment with striking restraint, allowing the portrait to resonate primarily on psychological grounds, achieved with that sensitive modeling of the features that you mentioned. The bare background too only increases our focus on Ava. Curator: She’s a mystery wrapped in impressionistic light! This wasn’t just a portrait, it's like Forain captured a fleeting soul. It makes you wonder about her story. Editor: Agreed, it is compelling how a relatively straightforward rendering in pastel evokes so many layered readings. Definitely a striking work by Forain.