Granby, Connecticut 1869

"Granby, Connecticut" is a pencil on paper drawing by James Renwick Brevoort, created in September of 1869. Brevoort lived in a rapidly changing America, during which industrialization and urbanization were increasingly impacting both the physical landscape and national identity. This seemingly simple landscape drawing invites us to consider America's complex relationship with its land and history. The cultivated fields and modest home suggest a narrative of settlement and domesticity, yet the very act of portraying this scene reflects an ongoing dialogue about whose stories and experiences are centered within the American narrative. Brevoort's choice of subject matter, a serene New England landscape, participates in a romanticized vision of rural life, a vision that often obscures the realities of displacement and labor that shaped these communities. As we reflect on Brevoort's drawing, we are reminded that landscapes are never neutral. They are imbued with layers of history, power, and identity. We can consider whose voices are present and absent in the visual representation of this land.