Hamlet 

Curator: What a fascinating drawing! The elegant lines give it such a light, ethereal quality. Editor: Yes, a real sense of otherworldly movement, though perhaps also confinement. I'm seeing a clear influence of Art Nouveau in this image. Let's provide our audience with some background on John Austen’s work, "Hamlet." Unfortunately, we don't have the exact date of the piece, but what is evident is Austen's skill with drawing as a medium, emphasizing the elegance of line and the contours of the human body. Curator: Elegance with a touch of the macabre! It's funny because at first glance it gives you that Art Nouveau whimsy, those romantic floating figures and flowing lines… but then, you look closer and they’re both nude and awkwardly reaching like they are about to die tragically. I wonder about this image as part of “Hamlet” does that reflect some of the heavy psychological themes going on within the play? Editor: That reading rings true, I think especially because this work features very specific visual choices that can serve a range of political functions. I agree it goes beyond decorative aesthetic value. You could even look at their bodies as forms that communicate tension. Notice that they appear restricted by their environment even with their naked forms supposedly communicating freedom. The two figures' entwined form evokes ideas about codependency as it occurs within many instances of systemic social or economic injustice. Curator: Codependency as a function of existential horror...it’s unexpectedly comforting that we’ve found a way to map a modern reading onto Austen's drawing of "Hamlet"! It sounds like a paradox, but thinking about art across time really works this way for me—the same old anxieties packaged for a different era. Editor: Precisely! And to bring this all to a conclusion, “Hamlet” reflects on how complex relationships are influenced through greater themes beyond interpersonal connection: things like corruption, revenge, and power all affect even the simplest encounters between people!