Elephants c. 19th century

Editor: This is Rodolphe Bresdin's "Elephants," a small drawing in the Harvard Art Museums. The sketchy lines give it a whimsical, almost childlike quality, but the elephants themselves seem burdened. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The elephant, across cultures, carries such heavy symbolic weight: wisdom, memory, strength, but also patience and even melancholy. Bresdin’s lines, though simple, capture this duality. Do you think the artist intended to portray these animals as simply majestic, or is there a deeper commentary? Editor: I hadn't considered the symbolic weight before. Maybe there's a hint of vulnerability beneath their size. Curator: Indeed. Perhaps Bresdin uses the familiar image of the elephant to tap into our collective understanding of strength, while simultaneously suggesting its fragility. Editor: That's a fascinating perspective; I'll never see elephants the same way again! Curator: And that's the power of art, isn't it? To shift our perception and enrich our understanding.