Woman's head 

Editor: So, this is Fritz Boehle's drawing, "Woman's Head." It looks like a pencil drawing on paper, and it's housed here at the Städel Museum. It's got this incredibly subdued, almost melancholic mood to it. What do you see when you look at this piece? Curator: It’s as though Boehle has captured a fleeting moment, a private reverie. The soft, smudged lines of the pencil give her face a vulnerable quality. I wonder what story she holds. The drawing has a subtle intensity... like she is looking into another world entirely. Have you ever seen that quality in another portrait? Editor: Maybe... I'm thinking of some of the more introspective portraits by Käthe Kollwitz? Curator: Ah, an excellent comparison! There's that same sense of quiet contemplation. With Boehle, though, I see an almost classical grace, even in the simplicity of the lines. But why do you think Boehle chose the starkness of pencil for this particular subject? Editor: Maybe to emphasize her naturalness, that quiet intensity you mentioned. It feels very immediate, like a captured moment. Curator: Exactly! The lack of color creates a sense of intimacy, drawing us closer to her inner world. And that scrap of handwriting… is it perhaps a key? A piece of a lost narrative? A memory of how and why he produced the piece? Editor: It adds such a layer of mystery. It makes me wish I could read old German script! It seems to imply that portraits aren't just about likeness. Curator: Precisely! They are about a feeling. And about a relationship, even an imagined one. I keep thinking it is her dream we are peeking at. This piece continues to be an object to explore. Editor: This drawing definitely has given me a fresh look at portraits, the subtlety that a simple medium brings to the fore!