Tour d'Horloge, Rouen 1829

Curator: Looking at David Cox's 1829 watercolor, "Tour d'Horloge, Rouen," I’m immediately drawn into that slice of bustling city life. There’s almost a theatrical quality with the light pouring through the archway, right? Editor: Absolutely, a real liminal space. You feel the coolness of the stone contrasted by the promise of sunlight ahead. The rapid strokes convey the city's hurried pulse, its raw materiality…like time itself, pressing onward. What about the physical construction? Curator: Well, beyond the picturesque view, consider what watercolors in 1829 meant materially. We see the integration of commercially produced paper meeting these mineral-based pigments to document, classify, and market landscape through newly developing tourist economies. It shows art was being actively constructed in a burgeoning art market. Editor: That's it, and look at how the paper almost feels like it’s breathing life into stone and mortar with the soft light. It almost hints at memories clinging to these places... I swear, I can practically smell the wet cobblestones! There's this feeling of history, but a lived-in history. It makes me wonder, what stories were etched onto the original stones as he stood there, painting? Curator: I’d also ask, to what degree did Cox need to alter that immediate reality? We cannot assume there wasn't any staging; rather, it represents what tourists wished to consume. We understand a burgeoning economy surrounding urban experience; what remains and what doesn’t, I would ask, of its literal makeup? Editor: A valid point. It is easy to get lost in the feeling and lose sight of how deliberately things are constructed for an effect, in paint but also in cityscapes for visitors' consumption. A lot is concealed to appear naturally chaotic! So a nice, tangible reminder that history itself can be just another commodity! Curator: Precisely, and reflecting on the materiality gives me a different viewing that reminds me it’s never innocent! Editor: Definitely given me a bit more to chew over on a sentimental view of architecture!