Blank page; verso: Sketch of Column Base with Fluted Shaft c. 1910

Curator: Here we have John Singer Sargent's "Blank page; verso: Sketch of Column Base with Fluted Shaft." Editor: It's just a quick sketch, really, almost ephemeral. Light pencil strokes suggesting architectural forms. Curator: But consider Sargent's background. As an expatriate, constantly negotiating identities, architecture provided a sense of grounding, a connection to history. Editor: Perhaps, but let's also note the materiality. The paper itself, the graphite – the tools he employed in this act of recording, of making. He likely used readily available materials. Curator: I think the column, especially, speaks to power structures. Sargent often painted portraits of the elite, the pillars of society, so to speak. Is he interrogating those structures here? Editor: Or simply practicing draftsmanship? Considering the play of light and shadow on a textured surface? The column isn't inherently powerful. Power resides in the stone and labor needed for its creation. Curator: Fair enough. It's a reminder that even in a simple sketch, there are layers of meaning depending on how you choose to excavate them. Editor: Exactly, from the humblest of materials come profound ideas, and the reverse can be true as well.