Bathers, Plate II 1928

Editor: This is Harold Weston's "Bathers, Plate II" from 1928, a drawing and print. It’s got this very blocky, almost abstract feel, and it evokes a strange sense of stillness. What do you make of its composition? Curator: Stillness, yes! That's what hits me too. And blocky is a good word for it. It's like the forms have been chiseled from stone, hasn’t it? Makes me wonder about the artist’s headspace, perhaps seeking a sort of grounding simplicity during the roaring twenties. The nude form becomes simplified. Almost symbolic. Almost dreamlike figures resting on a distant shore, or floating within some internal sea... What thoughts might be conjured by a tranquil shore for the viewer? Editor: Internal sea—I love that. It’s a really striking image and to imagine it internalised within a dreamer is a great starting point. Curator: It speaks of stripping down to essentials. What are we when everything’s been taken away? The figures almost appear genderless. Is this about the human form or just shapes arranged thoughtfully in relation? Weston wants us to confront something primordial, maybe? Don't you feel the desire to create something similarly striking in your own compositions? Editor: That stripping away really changes how you perceive it. And you’re right – it makes me reconsider my own ideas about figure drawing! Curator: See? Art always leaves its fingerprint behind!