Polperro, No. 2 1897

Editor: This is Joseph Pennell's "Polperro, No. 2," housed in the Harvard Art Museums. The sketch-like quality feels both intimate and distant. What strikes you about this work? Curator: The choice of Polperro as a subject is interesting. Pennell, an American expatriate, likely saw in this Cornish fishing village an untouched, ‘authentic’ England, a view often romanticized and exoticized by outsiders, obscuring the realities of working-class life. What does it mean to represent the lives of others? Editor: So you're suggesting that Pennell's gaze might be problematic? Curator: Precisely. His aesthetic appreciation might overshadow a deeper understanding of the social fabric of Polperro. Whose stories are being told, and whose are being left out? Editor: That's given me a lot to consider about how we view art and the stories behind it. Curator: Indeed, thinking critically about perspective is crucial.