Solicitor and Client 1870 - 1891

Curator: Ah, I see you're drawn to this quiet scene. This is Charles Samuel Keene's "Solicitor and Client," a pen, ink, and pencil drawing made sometime between 1870 and 1891. It’s currently held here at the Art Institute of Chicago. What catches your eye? Editor: Well, initially, it’s the body language. The client seems animated, almost pleading. The solicitor, on the other hand, is completely closed off, arms crossed. It feels like a conversation frozen in a moment of imbalance. There is some tension. Curator: It does, doesn't it? And consider the setting! The papers, the desk, the hat discarded on the floor – all suggesting a personal space, an encounter where formality is both present and breached. It could signal desperation, that gesture. I wonder what it conceals? Editor: I'm drawn to how the artist utilizes those simple, humble materials—pencil and ink. He builds atmosphere, social standing, with the most modest means. The shadow under the solicitor's chair feels pregnant with the weight of the conversation. Almost foreboding... Curator: Exactly! Shadow and light become shorthand for status and vulnerability. That pile of documents teetering precariously behind the solicitor -- perhaps a subtle dig at the burdens of the legal profession, or perhaps the chaos they are meant to manage. Or cause? Editor: Precisely, and it strikes me—there's a power dynamic visible not only in the gestures but in what isn’t explicitly shown. Look at the solicitor; every prop that emphasizes status is included: the crisp tailoring, the comfortable chair. Are we looking at the slow violence of everyday transaction? Curator: Oh, certainly! It's less about a specific legal case and more about the universal power dynamics at play. The solicitor is the gatekeeper. His closed posture becomes a barrier. Editor: Yes. A kind of psychological portraiture, really. Each mark serves to illuminate their world but also what lies beneath. We’ve only been observing for a brief amount of time, but in my minds eye I keep replaying the same drama. Curator: Which makes this little drawing so poignant. A subtle glimpse into human drama. Keene captured far more than just faces. Editor: He reminds us that, sometimes, the real story is written in the margins and creases of existence. Thank you for pointing the light at all this.