Lesende 1890

Curator: Max Liebermann created this drawing, titled "Lesende," around 1890. It’s a pencil sketch—remarkably simple, wouldn't you agree? Editor: I find the image quite soothing. The soft pencil lines create this hazy, dreamlike world. I immediately get a sense of quiet intimacy. The texture of the paper is part of the viewing experience. Curator: Absolutely, Liebermann was a master of capturing fleeting moments with incredible sensitivity. It’s also important to place his work in its time—the late 19th century, when the rise of industrialization and urban life made these more private, domestic scenes resonate powerfully. The intimate glimpse into the everyday, into quiet contemplation and simple joys, gave the burgeoning middle classes new symbols. Editor: I find it hard to not imagine the artist quietly in the same room, sketching what’s in front of them as the woman studies a book in this moment of peace and quiet. It's more than just the lines. Is she reading a love letter, maybe? What captures her complete and total attention? It’s like witnessing something private, unadulterated, the artist and the viewer acting as a voyeur in the sitter's everyday life. Curator: He did capture the ordinary and elevate it with a soft kind of Impressionism that you can feel. We see these impressionist impulses as we also get that slightly unfocused effect. I love it because it seems as though it could disappear, but then it holds your attention all the more for that fragility. It’s interesting that "Lesende," meaning "reading," puts the act of literacy itself on display, doesn’t it? Consider this as a moment when mass literacy was finally spreading. What might the woman's newfound access to information mean to her as a person living through all the major changes to civic life that accompanied the rapid spread of literacy? Editor: It feels quite personal, I can feel it tugging on something from my own experiences when the rest of the world disappears when I get stuck in a really, really good book. Curator: Yes, its accessibility and universal appeal really do add something profound to his body of work, for me at least. Editor: I couldn't agree more. Its gentle power sticks with you.