Marmeren beeld van een vrouw met in haar linkerhand een beeld, in haar rechterhand draagt zij een passer en een liniaal. c. 1878 - 1881

Curator: Oh, there's such a powerful stillness to this image. It almost feels like witnessing a secret frozen in time. Editor: This is a photograph of a marble sculpture, taken by Louis-Emile Durandelle between 1878 and 1881. The title translates to "Marble statue of a woman holding a statue in her left hand, a compass and ruler in her right." It immediately calls to mind the ways that knowledge has historically been gendered. Curator: That makes so much sense! I was struck by the way she's holding that smaller statue – so tenderly, almost like a muse or a cherished daughter. The compass and ruler feel like a more assertive gesture, doesn't it? Editor: Precisely. The tools represent rationality, a concept so long coded as masculine. The miniature sculpture cradled in her other hand offers, perhaps, an alternative – intuitive wisdom. The piece seems to suggest a negotiation between different modes of knowing, masculine and feminine. Curator: You’ve put your finger right on the head, there is a delicate power to it – she seems aware, in control of herself. The laurel wreath crowning her is lovely as well, another symbol here. Is it triumph, intellect or perhaps immortality? Editor: Laurel wreaths, yes, they historically denote triumph or excellence, but their use here may ironically comment on how that supposed excellence is celebrated unequally among men and women. Do we champion the contributions of women in science and math as enthusiastically? This photograph pushes us to ask these questions. Curator: I wonder about the sculptor’s intentions... the slight smirk on her face also, I am so interested, like she knew how those of us 150 years in the future will perceive her portrait! Editor: Durandelle's photographic lens immortalized this image and the complexities it embodies, enabling these very conversations across time and culture. The ways it manages to raise important feminist issues over a century after it was conceived, still amaze me. Curator: Me too, it also offers up such peace, balance. This photo has definitely awakened more questions than answers within me.