Girl in Green 

Curator: This is “Girl in Green,” a painting attributed to Frederic Leighton. What are your first impressions? Editor: The most striking element is the materiality of the green dress. It looks so weighty and textured; you can almost feel the drape of the fabric. The dress and ornamentation completely dominate the painting and the girl recedes into it. Curator: It's fascinating how Leighton uses oil paint to simulate the folds and textures. The brushwork on the dress feels quite different from the smoother handling of the face. How does this painting, if viewed through an historical lens, represent societal values related to class and production? Editor: Well, her dress is indicative of wealth. Its presence, and the ornamentation of her environment suggests this figure occupies the leisured class. As if consumption is part of her class performance. Considering Leighton’s position within the art world at that time, I’d argue this also reflects the Academy’s preoccupation with aesthetic beauty. It presents an interesting contrast between art for art’s sake, or for social representation, don't you think? Curator: Precisely! I agree. It is fascinating how academic art produced under powerful institutions had to respond to both socio-political values and a market audience eager to purchase an ideal of life. How do you feel about the representation of labor here? It feels obscured from immediate perception, right? Editor: Absolutely. There's no overt depiction of labour. It's all implied—in the making of the materials in the dress, or perhaps in its social performance within a patriarchal structure. By obscuring that reality, the artwork actively helps the higher class define itself through exclusion of those beneath. Curator: That's insightful. Looking at “Girl in Green” now, it leaves me pondering about how artistic production interacts with both social realities and the power structures that determine representation. Editor: For me, I find myself more drawn to the tactile quality and wondering about the women who spun and weaved all of that fabulous fabric. Both ways of looking I feel are valuable in really teasing out the narrative woven through this piece.