Three Women; verso: Sketch of a Woman Holding a Child 1872

Curator: Here we have John Singer Sargent's sketch, "Three Women," a pencil drawing now held at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: Oh, a whisper of a scene! It’s the kind of fleeting glimpse you catch from a train window, all muted tones and implied stories. Curator: Sargent’s handling of the pencil reveals his mastery; observe how he suggests volume and texture with minimal lines, efficiently capturing the women's clothing and postures. The verso even contains a sketch of a woman holding a child. Editor: It feels like a memory, almost faded. The women, anonymous in their headscarves, could be any village women going about their day. I wonder what they're talking about? Curator: It is interesting to speculate on what Sargent hoped to express—was it a study of form, a capturing of a specific social context, or simply an exercise in technique? Editor: Maybe all of those things. It makes me want to pull up a stool and join them, to hear their laughter or their worries carried on the breeze. Curator: It's compelling to consider the labor involved in creating even a preliminary sketch like this and its relationship to Sargent's more celebrated society portraits. Editor: Absolutely. In this small, intimate work, we find a universal echo.