Two Sketches of Dogs 15 - 1906

Curator: Here we have John Singer Sargent's "Two Sketches of Dogs," a small ink drawing held at the Harvard Art Museums. What's your initial reaction? Editor: Angular and quick! There's something unsettling in the hasty lines, like industrial machine parts reconfigured as pets. Curator: Sargent often moved in elite social circles, painting portraits of the wealthy and powerful. These sketches, however, offer an intimate glimpse into his process. Look closely at how the minimal lines capture the dogs' forms. Editor: Right, and I find myself thinking about the paper itself. It's a ground material, the very surface that allows this fleeting representation to exist. Were such affordable materials easily accessible at the time? Curator: Absolutely, and that accessibility contributed to the democratizing of art. It enabled artists to experiment, even in preparatory sketches, and challenge traditional notions of what constituted 'art.' Editor: These dogs, raw and imperfect, seem far removed from the polished portraits Sargent is known for. Perhaps that’s their appeal – unmediated process laid bare. Curator: Indeed, it's a revealing look behind the curtain, showing the artist's hand and mind at work, removed from the pressures of representing social status. Editor: It really makes you consider the labor and materials that underpinned his entire artistic project, doesn't it? Curator: Precisely, seeing this, I now have a whole new perspective on Sargent. Editor: And I see the humble materials that make this view possible.