Portrait of a Young Man 19th-20th century

Editor: Here we have Denman Waldo Ross’s "Portrait of a Young Man" from the Harvard Art Museums. The brushstrokes feel so deliberate. How do you interpret this work? Curator: I see a study in the labor of representation. The quick, visible brushstrokes betray the artist's hand, reminding us of the physical act of painting. What kind of social environment produced this image? Editor: Do you mean how the labor conditions of the time might have shaped Ross's technique? Curator: Precisely. Consider also the availability and cost of materials – pigments, canvas – and how those factors might have influenced the final product and its consumption. Editor: I hadn't thought about the cost of materials. That gives me a new perspective. Curator: It encourages us to think about the material conditions underlying artistic production.