Studies of a Javanese Dancer (recto and verso) 1889

Curator: Here we have John Singer Sargent’s Studies of a Javanese Dancer, located at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It strikes me as so fleeting, almost like catching a shadow. The minimal lines really capture movement. Curator: It's fascinating to consider this sketch within Sargent's broader body of work. Given his focus on portraiture of the elite, what does it mean for him to turn his attention to a Javanese dancer? How might we interpret this through a lens of cultural exchange, or perhaps even colonial dynamics? Editor: Well, the formal composition—the emphasis on line and form—suggests that Sargent was less interested in a direct representation and more interested in capturing the essence of the dancer’s form. Curator: Perhaps. But art is never created in a vacuum. Sargent's perspective, as a Western artist observing a non-Western subject, inevitably shapes how we see this dancer. Editor: Fair enough. Still, I’m drawn to the elegance of the line. Curator: And I'm left pondering the dancer's story, her agency, and how she is represented within Sargent’s sketch.