My Aunt Johanna 

Editor: We're looking at a portrait called "My Aunt Johanna" by Felicien Rops, done in ink. The linework feels so raw, like a quick study, yet there's a weariness in the subject's face. What can you tell me about it? Curator: Rops, active in late 19th century Belgium and France, often explored themes of societal decadence and the roles of women. Though a personal sketch, portraits like this engaged with contemporary social debates on the changing image and roles of women at the time, but we often only look at the flirty pictures in these cultural debates, don't we? The 'woman as subject of artistic creation', as a topic on her own terms - not as a man dictates her role or her future. Do you get the sense of her lived reality from it? Editor: Absolutely, I think the starkness contributes to it, almost journalistic. It isn’t idealized. Curator: Consider the domestic context too. Her positioning amid everyday objects is notable; these surroundings subtly tell a story. Think about whose stories got told, and whose didn't. Editor: So, in a way, it’s challenging the expected narrative of how women were portrayed in art at that time. Curator: Exactly. Rops uses this medium to create a study. What emerges transcends a simple portrait. It's not necessarily celebrating it, though - it is instead questioning it, and bringing light to everyday life in times where photography was not readily available to do that. Editor: It’s fascinating how much a simple sketch can reveal about societal perceptions of women. Thanks. Curator: Indeed. It is an intersection between domestic intimacy and social history and an attempt at highlighting the every day.