Staande vrouw, in profiel 1880 - 1882

Curator: I am drawn to the immediate intimacy of this quick sketch; it’s rendered with just pencil on paper. Created between 1880 and 1882 by George Hendrik Breitner, it's entitled "Standing Woman, in Profile". Editor: There's a vulnerability in its unfinished quality, an almost archetypal 'everywoman'. It’s less about the individual and more about the form, the silhouette against the light. I find it touching; she looks downward, almost ashamed. Curator: Breitner's focus often rested on capturing fleeting moments of everyday life in Amsterdam. One can understand her downwards glance in relationship to that, she may well be an individual affected by poverty in a burgeoning, colonial metropole. The very form of the sketch could also act as an emblem for how quickly impoverished women were forgotten, unless of course the bourgeois man willed them to be visible, like this. Editor: That shadow, it's not just formal, it's laden with a heavy historical context, almost an original sin; is she also facing her personal struggles too, away from Breitner and the public gaze? This sense of introspection ties in with visual traditions of 'penitent Magdalene', which are about public penance but deep private struggles. There is very minimal detailing and contour, which could be the shame felt that doesn't permit an image to emerge clearly from the page. Curator: Your connection to Magdalene images is useful in trying to uncover the weight and purpose here; how does the sketch reframe or reinforce those images in our own minds? It makes me also consider questions about female authorship and representation that ripple throughout history. How does it act as an allegorical lens for questions of our day around these issues? Editor: Precisely. And the fact that it is unfinished encourages us to bring to bear our own baggage of ideas of female identity and oppression. The uncompleted lines allows us to make this leap. What Breitner unwittingly leaves out is a symbol of contemporary female self-conception. Curator: What a thought. It has certainly illuminated some intriguing points regarding visual culture and the symbolic order. Editor: It really invites the viewer to participate and feel. Thanks for sharing!