‘In a moment, I will show you an image. Tell me what you can about it.’
Dr Wang tried to clarify. ‘Would you like our opinion, analysis, deconstruct—’
She stopped him as quickly as he started. ‘You will know what to say, Dr Wang.’ She turned to Piero, who handed her a laminated image. ‘You have twenty seconds to generate a response. Prof Villette, you will begin.’
The image was of a tree branch, dense with fruit. It was washed in blue and green tones, its soft lines and blurred edges making it difficult to discern any particular details.
Stella’s entire body stilled. She couldn’t move, couldn’t so much as flinch. All she felt was a warmth envelop her, radiating outward from her heart, through her middle and down her limbs.
It couldn’t be, surely?
‘This is clearly a post-Impressionist piece. I would suggest it’s a cleverly captured element from one of Bonnard’s later nature scenes.’ Prof Villette was happy with her response and sat back in her chair confidently. She gave a smug glance to her competition, a move which didn’t go unnoticed by either Gabrielle or Piero.
Dr Wang agreed that it was the work of a post-Impressionist artist, but couldn’t commit to a particular one, suggesting it was produced in a studio. He then chose to unpack the meaning he attributed to the fruit given the sociopolitical context of the period.
Stella, on the other hand, knew this branch. She knew itintimately. She shook her head in disbelief at the stroke of luck some divine being had bestowed upon her. Finding her voice, she said, ‘This is not even close to post-Impressionist. This is more than two thousand years old.’ Prof Villette scoffed like a petulant child but Stella continued. ‘This has been captured from the Villa di Livia, which resides at the Museo Nazionale Romano. It is part of a larger set of frescoes which date back to the early Roman Empire. The completed set lined the inner walls of one of the rooms of the house of Livia Drusilla. Its completion date is contested, but many believe around 30 BCE. It was removed during the post-war period in the 1950s, and moved to the museum for restoration work.’
Gabrielle stared intently at Stella for a moment before saying, ‘Yes, that’s correct.’
A wave of relief washed over Stella, though she didn’t dare show it.
Dr Wang graciously congratulated Stella on her incredible knowledge, while Prof Villette remained quiet.
‘This next task,’ Gabrielle began, ‘will take fifteen minutes to complete.’ She gestured again to the pencil and paper laid out for them. ‘Imagine you have a group of twenty twelve-year-olds in your care for an art appreciation workshop. Select any two works of art that you would study with the students, and outline the activities you would set for them to undertake. Piero, time.’
Dr Wang chose modern art and prepared a workshop which played on the emotions of Edvard Munch’sThe Screamand Pablo Picasso’sThe Weeping Woman. Prof Villette chose Vincent van Gogh’sVase with Five SunflowersandSunflowers, and chose to compare and contrast the life cycle of flowers and the seasons.
Gabrielle shot them both down for their simplicity and unoriginality. ‘Ms Chiaro?’
Stella had gone in a completely different direction. Almost rogue. ‘Well, I would have the students compare and contrast two depictions of Judith beheading Holofernes. I would begin with the Caravaggio depiction, then introduce the Gentileschi versio—’
‘You would have twelve-year-olds analyse a gruesome beheading scene? That’s barbaric.’ Prof Villette tutted her disapproval.
Dr Wang nodded to himself, agreeing with his colleague’s concerns.
‘Do go on,’ invited Gabrielle.
‘The depictions are fairly similar in form, are they not? The composition, the colours, the use of thechiaroscurotechnique. They were painted twenty years apart, with Gentileschi taking a great deal of inspiration not only from Caravaggio’s work, but also his style.’
‘Respectfully,we,’ Prof Villette indicated to herself and Dr Wang, ‘don’t need an art history lesson.’ She smiled at Dr Wang, who avoided her eye contact.
‘We,’ Stella stressed, ‘may be experts in our fields, but our students are not. We need to come down to their level. I don’t mean that we censor their experiences or patronise them by underestimating their ability to infer meaning or draw conclusions from art. I mean,theyhaven’t been exposed to some of the concepts we have. Take the two paintings: one was painted by a male artist who dabbled in the world of crime and violence; the other, a female, who was light-years ahead of her time, and who had been assaulted as a young woman. Each artist brings a different context to the same subject matter and that simply cannot be ignored. Now, I am not suggesting that we discuss crime, murder and assault with the students, but we can talk about the concept of artist perspective.’
Gabrielle was completely engrossed by Stella’s viewpoint, though remained stone-faced. ‘Ms Chiaro, what would you have the studentsdowith the paintings?’
‘We would start by reading an abridged version of the biblical narrative, which really reads like mythology. It’s exciting, heroic and courageous. They will love that. We would discuss the colours and symbols in the paintings, then they would need to decide which was painted by a male artist, and which by a female artist. We would vote and award prizes to students who not only guessed correctly, but could articulate why they arrived at that conclusion. Then . . .’ She kept the ball rolling on her tangent, enjoying conceptualising this lesson.
‘. . . and then they could use those brainstormed concepts to create their own abstract representation of the emotions at play in the paintings. Here, we distance the students from having to represent such a confronting scene, and instead teach them about the power of gaze and artistic perspective.’ Suddenly aware of the fact that she had been rambling, she quietened down. ‘Or, something like that.’ She swallowed down hard.
‘Thank you. Piero.’ Gabrielle presented them with a large print which Piero had to stand up to hold. ‘Take a look at this painting by a young studio artist we believe unknown from the Early Renaissance period. Study it carefully and dissect all the characteristics you would attribute to the artistic style of that key period.’
Both Dr Wang and Prof Villette erupted with ideas: ‘depth of field . . .’, ‘shadowing effect . . .’, ‘symbolism . . .’, and so on.
Stella remained quiet, unable to participate.
‘Ms Chiaro, we are yet to hear from you. Have you nothing to offer?’ Prof Villette’s comment was designed to illuminate Stella’s absent contribution.
‘No. Nothing.’
