Girl in a Straw Bonnet 1863 - 1875

Editor: So, here we have "Girl in a Straw Bonnet," a sculpture by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse, likely created sometime between 1863 and 1875. What strikes me immediately is the fragility it conveys despite being made of… what is it, wood? The delicacy seems almost at odds with the material. What's your read on it? Curator: Oh, you’ve nailed it. It’s that beautiful tension, isn't it? The artist has captured a certain wistfulness in the girl's gaze, a gentle melancholy. And that's all the more remarkable because it IS wood—though it might be terra cotta, perhaps—a rather unforgiving material. Look at how he softened it, mimicking the texture of fabric in her draped shawl. Have you considered how the decorative arts during that period reveled in artifice and transformation? Editor: You mean like making something solid look so airy? It’s true; the bonnet especially, with all those little flower-like decorations, feels almost weightless. How do you think it reflected society back then? Curator: Think about the Industrial Revolution humming away, but the longing for the pastoral remained so very strong. It’s there in her gentle expression, the floral adornments—a kind of manufactured nostalgia. A pre-Raphaelite dream rendered in three dimensions, perhaps. A little escape clause in a rapidly changing world, wouldn't you say? Do you get the impression that her inward state is reflective? Editor: Yes, absolutely. Now that I look more closely, there's definitely a thoughtful, almost contemplative quality that overrides any sense of simple beauty. Thanks! It changed the way I think about her. Curator: And for me, this always circles back to material! Imagining the artist teasing all this emotion out of this wood is, to me, almost miraculous. What an alchemist.