Trees and Pond 1832

Editor: We're looking at "Trees and Pond" by John Ruskin, made in 1832, a watercolor and oil painting. It has such a serene and contemplative atmosphere. What stands out to you in this work? Curator: The choice of medium here, watercolour, becomes critical. During this period, landscape painting and especially plein-air painting allowed for deeper dialogues about humans relationship with nature and particularly ownership. How might Ruskin’s upper-class status inflect this representation, or not? The style is obviously Romantic, so how is nature itself being romanticized and therefore becoming a resource, implicitly? Editor: So you are suggesting that even something as seemingly idyllic as this landscape points to bigger societal themes? Curator: Exactly. This wasn’t painted in a vacuum. Ruskin, and many other artists of this time, are inherently tied up with colonial expansion and resource extraction. The ownership, or ‘picturesque-ness’ of the landscape needs to be questioned. Who is allowed access to this nature and on whose land does this exist? Editor: It's interesting to consider how access and perspective play into even these pastoral scenes. The privilege inherent in simply having the time and resources to create a watercolour en plein air is not lost on me. Curator: Precisely. Thinking about how power and privilege manifest in visual culture helps us confront blind spots within art history. Editor: This really makes me rethink the way I see these traditional landscape paintings. Thank you for this. Curator: It’s all about context, asking those difficult questions, and acknowledging historical, social, and intersectional issues in art!