The Dancer Anita Berber 1919

Curator: What strikes me first is the pose, a kind of defiant elegance. Editor: It’s interesting you say that! This is Charlotte Berend-Corinth’s rendering of “The Dancer Anita Berber,” currently residing at the Harvard Art Museums. Curator: Yes, it’s the economy of line, the way she suggests volume and movement with such sparseness. There's a vulnerability mixed with bravado. Editor: Berber, as a figure, was all about breaking norms. The sketch really captures the Weimar Republic’s complex relationship with gender, performance, and sexuality. Curator: Absolutely, the sketch feels less like a portrait and more like an emotional record of that era. A fleeting, fragile defiance. Editor: I concur; it portrays a woman caught in the push and pull of societal expectations. A figure of liberation but also vulnerability. Curator: It whispers of untold stories. Editor: Indeed, and forces us to reflect on our own perspectives.