Opgeheven hoofd van vrouw 1732 - 1776

Editor: We're looking at "Raised Head of a Woman," a drawing made between 1732 and 1776 by Gilles Demarteau using pencil. It feels ethereal, almost dreamlike. How do you interpret this work? Curator: The upward gaze immediately situates this drawing within discourses of power and gender in the Rococo period. While seemingly delicate, the raised head, the averted gaze - it hints at something more than mere beauty. I wonder what her position was relative to the male artist, and the male gaze? Who commissioned the piece? These social dynamics frame our understanding. Editor: So you're suggesting the upward gaze is perhaps a performance, an act? Curator: Precisely. Rococo often masked social constraints with ornate beauty. We see the aesthetics, but we must interrogate who benefits from that beauty and the potential societal pressures. Note the precision of the lines, then contextualize it within the highly structured societal constraints placed on women's visibility and agency at the time. Do you notice that asymmetry? It speaks to the slippages of reality that challenge portraiture. Editor: I didn't think of that, seeing the pose as almost defiant now, but I'd originally overlooked any tension in her presentation. Thanks to the artist for putting it in a drawing. Curator: Exactly. It provokes dialogue and dismantles that male gaze, and the social issues inherent in the period it's made in. Editor: Looking at it now, the gaze could also mean she's defiant of these constraints. A simple yet revealing work when viewed in its context.