Detailontwerp van een vrouwenhoofd voor een affiche voor het Internationaal Eucharistisch Congres gehouden te Amsterdam van 22-27 juli 1924 1924

Editor: This drawing, rendered in pencil and colored pencil, is a design detail for a poster by Jan Toorop from 1924, meant to advertise the International Eucharistic Congress held in Amsterdam. I find its symbolic nature striking, almost dreamlike. What stands out to you in this work? Curator: The dreamy quality you noticed speaks volumes, doesn't it? For me, the arresting quality is this sense of the ephemeral mixing with something quite solid. Look at how Toorop uses line. See the fluidity in her veil and the deliberate angularity of the background architecture? It's like the earthly and divine realms are gently, yet resolutely, layered upon each other. Does that strike you at all? Editor: Absolutely, I didn't notice that before! There's such a delicate balance there, but it does add to the dreamlike, ethereal atmosphere I first perceived. I initially thought it was simply the subject matter, being a Madonna-like figure. Curator: Indeed. He's taken a traditional icon and re-imagined her through an Art Nouveau lens, imbuing her with this compelling sense of…yearning, almost. Perhaps it is about hinting to the eternal search for grace, for meaning, reflected in those upward-reaching architectural forms. Editor: It makes me consider the intent behind religious art. Beyond devotion, there is an inherent aspiration within it, perhaps that's what strikes me. Curator: Exactly! You've pinpointed the crux. And it's Toorop's unique ability to capture both the human and the divine within that aspiration, I think. What a joy, always, to consider such questions! Editor: This was a really helpful approach, I never thought about combining religion with Art Nouveau. Thank you so much!