Study of Goat's Head c. 1890 - 1916

Editor: This is John Singer Sargent's "Study of Goat's Head," housed at the Harvard Art Museums. It’s a small pencil sketch, and I’m struck by how much personality he manages to capture with so few lines. What is the social role of preliminary sketches like this one? Curator: Well, such sketches give us insight into the artist's process, revealing not only the final aesthetic, but Sargent’s individual perspective and working methodology. How does this raw immediacy affect the goat's reception, shifting it from a barnyard animal to a subject worthy of artistic study? Editor: I never considered how the sketch's incompleteness might change our perception of the subject. Curator: Exactly. Sargent’s choice elevates the ordinary. Do you think that democratization of subject matter affected turn-of-the-century art? Editor: Definitely. Thanks, it’s a fascinating angle I hadn’t thought about.