Lying woman with hat 1907

Curator: Welcome! Today, we’re looking at "Lying Woman with Hat," a 1907 ink drawing on paper by Hermann Lismann, currently housed at the Städel Museum. It presents a figure in repose set against a suggestive landscape. Editor: Hmm, my first thought is, “moody summer afternoon nap”. The strong ink strokes, almost like wind, create a very tactile sense of place and time. Even though it is static, the lines seem very much alive. Curator: It is evocative, indeed! Lismann worked in a period marked by a shift toward greater psychological intensity in art, particularly expressionism, which this work echoes through its simplified forms and potent strokes. You get a sense of internal drama, wouldn't you say? Editor: Oh, absolutely. I can feel her…I'm just trying to discern her emotion, what is she dreaming? Is she simply tired and thoughtful, or perhaps yearning? I love the ambiguity! The way the landscape seems to echo her pose gives this drawing a quality like she has dissolved in the moment itself. Curator: That integration aligns with certain Expressionist desires to blend individual emotion with a broader sense of place. Think of how artists at the time wanted to reflect both inner experiences and socio-political realities within nature, but often with anxiety, premonitions of chaos to come. Do you read some of that angst in her attitude? Editor: I could read the artist's anxiety into it for sure! She looks pensive, not particularly distressed, at least for my eye. There's such a raw openness to it. I wonder what stories she carries in the creases of that hat. Curator: Ultimately, this artwork provides a valuable view into the concerns of a society navigating rapid transformation and a turn to the subjective viewpoint—which is quite present through the bold gestural strokes of ink defining both figure and ground. Editor: A moment beautifully suspended! I want to go find that meadow and try to replicate the mood of "Lying Woman with Hat". Perhaps minus the angst.