The Temple of Concord on the Wall, Girgenti 1913

Curator: Immediately, the craggy foreground practically reaches out to grab you. A bit dramatic, no? Editor: Yes, a wonderful effect of depth. We’re looking at Joseph Pennell’s 1913 pencil sketch titled, "The Temple of Concord on the Wall, Girgenti." Pennell really captures a feeling of ancient monumentality here. Curator: I love how he placed the temple—distant and serene—atop that wildly textured cliff face. It feels perched, like a thought on the verge of disappearing. I feel like I'm balancing, holding the moment, you know? Editor: The composition guides us to appreciate that visual tension. Notice the contrasting textures—the soft sky, the temple’s sharp lines, the roughness of the rocks. This visual rhetoric emphasizes the interplay of order and chaos. Curator: And that pencil work! So delicate, but also capable of suggesting such mass. It reminds me how time itself feels: light and fleeting, yet also a heavy, crushing force. Bit melancholy, actually. Editor: That melancholy is beautifully conveyed through his treatment of light and shadow. See how the shadows accentuate the crevices of the rocks, creating a sense of timeless endurance. It's almost theatrical in its drama, a tableau of history and decay. Curator: Right! I wonder what Pennell was feeling when he made this? Was he drawn to the romantic notion of ruins, or was he hinting at the precariousness of civilization itself? So moody, that image, in its own special, silent, black and white way. Editor: Indeed, by stripping away color, he focuses on fundamental structures—both physical and conceptual. Pennell makes us consider our relationship to these structures of time and history. Well worth the study. Curator: Absolutely! It’s a sketch that continues to pose questions, even a century later. So lovely and a little tragic, a moment perfectly captured in pencil and time. Editor: A potent distillation of form and idea, Pennell challenges our perception, leaving much for the curious mind to appreciate.