The -Cold Term 1858

Curator: Oh my, it looks like a particularly bleak winter scene. Everyone's huddled together as if warmth is a rare commodity. Editor: Indeed, and let's dive into why. We're looking at "The -Cold Term," a wood engraving produced in 1858. It offers a dual perspective: a distant cityscape, and a street-level vignette depicting the intersection of Milk and Washington Streets. The piece appeared in Ballou's Pictorial, an illustrated weekly newspaper, back in the day. Curator: Newspapers printing artworks? I’d love to know more. Editor: Winslow Homer worked here in one of his earlier efforts and offers such detail in the faces, doesn't he? What interests me, beyond subject and cultural reference, is the strong graphic quality—the dramatic contrast between the densely worked areas and the untouched white space of the page. Curator: It makes it almost ghostly, that white. The building itself has that sort of fantastic cartoon vibe to it, or like an exaggerated architectural jest. Almost Dickensian with the name, Currier and Trott… Editor: Good eye, a whimsical note amid the cold reality, perhaps. Look at the arrangement: figures cluster in the lower scene and are uniformly monochromatic. The architecture in the background is arranged in the typical hierarchy found within paintings during this period. Curator: And the details! Little things are starting to leap out, a dog trotting through the snow and a small child on the corner trying to play his horn but everyone's far too glum to pay him any attention. The entire piece gives the impression of something caught off-guard and without preparation. It’s lovely in this very dark way. Editor: Perhaps there is no color, so every line has to create meaning. Notice the layering and deliberate compositions as the woodcutter etches out meaning and provides structure. Everything is organized around basic architectural structures. Curator: This wasn't what I was expecting. The image invites you to warm it, it’s so devoid of heat and joy that I keep wanting to see more, to create in it. Editor: The -Cold Term indeed: so much to see and so much history etched on every line!