Sketches of a Woman's Head and Facial Features; verso: Sketch after a Painting (?) c. 1880 - 1881

Curator: Here we have John Singer Sargent's "Sketches of a Woman's Head and Facial Features" at the Harvard Art Museums. The quick graphite lines capture a sense of immediacy. Editor: It feels like a whisper—delicate and fleeting. I get a sense of quiet contemplation, like a stolen moment. Curator: Sargent was a master of portraiture, and even in these preliminary sketches, we see the seeds of his skill. The woman's face is both idealized and realistic, recalling classical archetypes of beauty. Editor: Yes, but it's more intimate somehow. Less about projecting power and more about observing an interior world. It's like glimpsing a thought before it fully forms. Curator: The unfinished nature of the sketches actually adds to the mystique. It invites us to fill in the blanks and imagine the woman's story. The verso even hints at another painting, a hidden layer of creativity. Editor: I feel that Sargent gave us enough to begin dreaming, and really, isn't that the best kind of art?