Lille græsk hoved efter en gipsafstøbning 1890

Curator: I see such vulnerability. All those lines seem to cradle the face. It is almost like she is caught in a very fine net. Editor: Indeed. What we are looking at is Frans Schwartz’s 1890 engraving, “Little Greek Head After a Plaster Cast,” currently residing here at the SMK. Curator: After a plaster cast… Yes! The coldness is why she seemed untouchable despite all those cradling lines. He saw her remove. Editor: The artist likely encountered this motif within an academic setting, reflecting a period when plaster casts of classical sculpture were crucial for artistic training. Can you elaborate on what draws you to that sense of "remove"? Curator: I think he renders her, with those delicate marks, as an absence. Do you know when I look at her, I imagine the life in the original stone or the breath of a model, not this copy. All of that is now…ghostly? A strange haunting. He engraves absence. Editor: Interesting. Engravings, with their reproducible nature, were in themselves becoming agents in disseminating art and culture widely during this period. How does this reproduction then shape or change your perception? Does that coldness you describe intensify? Curator: It does intensify! Of course. She's removed from her origin by being a copy, but more so by the choice of rendering; making it an engraving means that it’s now an image that is being copied…copied…copied… into oblivion. I guess it is sad. To sum up all these points. A triple remove and she looks like she's tired of it all. Editor: The tiredness might be Schwartz himself! There was growing resistance against Academic Art which Schwartz would be directly reacting to by choosing the copy and maybe even being tired of it! This tired trope! So he chooses to create one, with very tired lines… Fascinating. Curator: It IS rather beautiful when we get tired. And maybe beauty has nothing to do with vibrancy but fatigue. And the story of a simulacrum, a stand in and that distance. It haunts and engages us. A wonderful experience, even a very quiet one like this one. Editor: A perfect summary, that feeling of quiet resonance—even the medium of engraving adds layers to our viewing experience today.