Landscape, Grisons, Switzerland 19th-20th century

Curator: Denman Waldo Ross's "Landscape, Grisons, Switzerland," captures a small village nestled in the Swiss Alps. Editor: It feels light and airy, almost dreamlike, with the soft watercolors blurring the edges of the buildings and trees. Curator: Right. Ross was deeply influenced by theories of aesthetic ordering. I see this landscape as an intersection of class, leisure, and artistic production – who is afforded the time and resources to create such images? Editor: I'm struck by the materiality. Watercolor, historically accessible, allowed for quick plein air studies. It speaks to a certain democratic impulse, even if the subject matter points elsewhere. It lets the artist be one with the land, at least briefly. Curator: Yet, the very act of representing the landscape, of framing it, reinforces a specific power dynamic. We have to acknowledge the socio-political context within which it was produced. Editor: I agree, but I wonder if we can appreciate the artist's process, the fluidity of the paint, without solely focusing on power structures. It feels more like a study of how pigments behave. Curator: Perhaps. But context always matters when we consider any artwork’s significance. Editor: Indeed. Thank you, I'm feeling grounded by this discussion.