Petit Courrier des Dames, 25 septembre 1840, No. 1673 : Chapeau en poult de soi (...) 1840

Curator: Looking at this mixed-media print titled "Petit Courrier des Dames, 25 septembre 1840, No. 1673," dated 1840 by an anonymous artist, I’m immediately struck by the stark contrast in textures and the somewhat rigid composition. Editor: Oh, it’s got a lovely delicate melancholy about it. All those soft watercolors and flowing lines...almost a whisper from another time. Makes me think of pressed flowers and handwritten letters sealed with wax. Curator: Note how the artist uses line to define the forms of the women’s dresses. The ruffles at the bottom of the green gown create a repetitive pattern, a sort of visual rhythm which contrasts with the chaotic paisley of the shawl. The bonnet seems a device that encloses the figure’s face. Editor: Yes, those shawls do seem chaotic now that you mention it, as if each woman is wearing a very busy garden. I do get this odd feeling of restraint. Almost like these fashionable women are caged, in a way, by their attire and social expectations. It seems so removed. Curator: It reflects Romanticism through its focus on emotional expression but through an emphasis on sartorial detail, highlighting the rising industrialization. Editor: Hmm, rising industrialization meets emotional expression… it's the juxtaposition that gets me. Something deeply personal, but all presented with cool reserve and rigid attention to the patterns in the shawls, dresses and bonnets. Curator: It is tempting to interpret that disconnect with Romantic ideals that also suggest societal control via this exactness and emphasis on these particular signifiers of dress and style, all framed with a careful sense of presentation and precision. Editor: Thinking about it, maybe the artist saw this too—a world becoming ever so beautiful, and yet confined? The art and artifice almost eclipsing real emotional connection? Curator: Indeed, these fashion plates were both a form of information but also cultural objects themselves, telling us as much about anxieties and class concerns as trends. Editor: The patterns and forms start to dissolve, or perhaps resolve into something a bit deeper, revealing hidden things—ghosts within this snapshot of fashionable propriety and poise. Thank you for pointing that out to me.